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A      M  K  M  ()  1  11 


OF 


John   Maclean,   m.d., 


IHK    FIRST     I'ROFESSOR    OF    CHEMISTRY    IN    THK 
(■(II.I^EC.E    OF    NEW    JERSEY, 


HY     HIS    SON, 


JOHN      ISlJ^CLEAISr, 


THE  TENITI    PRESIDENT  OF  THE  COLLEGE. 


IPor  priT7-£Lte  d-istrLTo-u-tioon.  ci:l137-. 


PRINCETON  : 

PRINTED    AT    THE   "PRESS"    OFFICE. 
I    876. 


TO 

(lEORGE    MACINTOSH    MACLEAN,    M.D.,    PH.D., 
AND 

archibald  maclean,  esq., 

the  other  surviving  members  of  his 

father's  family, 

this  memoir  is  inscribed 

by  the  writer, 

in  token  of  his  love  and  respect 

FOR    THEM.    - 


PREFACE. 

Tti  preparing  a  history  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey,  the  writer  was  of  neces- 
sity led  to  speak  of  his  own  father,  who  for  seventeen  years  was  a  Professor 
in  the  College;  and  for  a  considerable  portion  of  this  time  the  only  one,  with 
the  exception  of  President  S.  S.  Smith,  who  was  Professor  of  Divinity  and 
Moral  Philosophy  as  well  as  President. 

While  engaged  on  this  work,  the  thought  occurred  to  him,  that  he  ought  to 
write  a  fuller  account  of  his  father  than  \\ould  be  suitable  for  the  proposed  history 
of  the  College;   and  that  was  the  origin  of  this  memoir. 

The  things  mentioned  in  this  narrative  are  in  some  instances  given  rather 
with  respect  to  their  connection  with  each  other  than  to  the  order  of  their  occur- 
rence. 


MEMOIR. 


Dr.  Maclean  was  born  in  the  city  of  Glasgow,  Scotland,  on 
the  first  day  of  March,  1771.  His  father,  after  whom  he  was 
named,  was  by  profession  a  surgeon,  both  in  civil  and  military 
service.  His  grandfather,  the  Rev.  Archibald  Maclean,  was 
minister  of  the  Parish  of  Kilfinichen,  which  included  the  well 
known  Island  of  Iona.  Upon  retiring  from  the  army,  his  father 
practised  surgery  in  the  city  of  Glasgow,  and  resided  there  until 
his  death.  He  was  pesent  at  the  capture  of  Quebec  from  the 
French,  and  he  was  the  third  man  who  succeeded  in  scaling 
the  famous  heights  of  Abraham,  then  regarded  as  a  formid- 
able and  natural  defence  of  that  city.  A  short  time  before 
going  with  the  British  army  to  Canada,  he  married  Miss 
Agnes  Lang-,  of  Glasgow,  and  their  youngest  child  is  the  sub- 
ject of  this  memoir. 

In  a  Historical  and  Genealogical  account  of  the  clan 
Maclean,  published  in  London,  in  1838,  page  282,  mention 
Ms  made  of  Ur.  Maclean's  going  to  America,  and  of  his  mar- 
riage here.     His  mother's  name  is  inaccurately  given  as  Anne 


Lon^^,  instead  of  A^nes  Lang.  This  genealogical  account 
of  the  clan  furnishes  the  data  by  which  Dr.  Maclean's  lineage 
can  be  traced  back  to  Gillean,  the  founder  of  the  clan  in  the 
thirteenth  century. 

In  early  life  he  had  the  misfortune  to  lose  both  his  pa- 
rents, but  had  the  happiness  to  have  for  his  guardian  George 
Macintosh,  Esq.,  a  gentleman  of  rare  worth,  who  took  great 
interest  in  his  welfare,  and  made  excellent  provision  for  his 
instruction,  by  sending  him  to  the  Glasgow  Grammar  School, 
where  he  made  rapid  and  real  advancement,  and  then  to  the 
University,  which  his  intelligence  and  proficiency  enabled  him 
to  enter,  while  he  was  yet  a  lad  between  twelve  and  thirteen ; 
no  inquiry  having  been  made  in  regard  to  his  age. 

For  his  good  scholarship,  and  upon  a  public  examination. 
he  obtained  at  the  Grammar  School  several  premiums,  and 
one  or  more  after  his  admission  to  the  University.  The 
prizes  at  the  Grammar  School  were  awarded  on  the  calends 
of  October,  in  successive  years,  and  each  one  consisted  of  a 
Latin  classic  suited  to  the  proficiency  of  the  pupil.  The  pre- 
miums assigned  to  the  subject  of  this  memoir  were  the  "Ex- 
cellentium  Imperatorum  Vitae"  of  Cornelius  Nepos;  the  Com- 
mentaries of  Julius  Caisar  ;  the  works  of  Virgil  and  of  Horace', 
and  Lucan's  Pharsalia.  This  last  was  given  by  the  Universit}', 
and  with  the  following  certificate  signed  by  the  Humanity 
Professor : 

Joan:  M'Lean, 

Universitatis  Glasguensis  Aliiinnu> 
Eleganlioris  ingcnii  dotes 
Diligenter  graviter  exculcns, 


7 

Hoc  Pracmium  Acadeniicum, 

Enipt :  pecuniis  in  liunc  usum, 

A  P'ratibus 

(icorgii  Muirhead,  quondam,  L.  H.  P. 

In  hac  Universitate,  legalis, 

Publice  tulit, 

Kal :  Ipsis  Mali,  1785, 

(kili  :  Richardson,  L.  H.  P. 

Both  in  the  Grammar  School  and  in  the  University  of 
Glasgow,  the  course  of  instruction  in  the  Greek  language  was 
much  more  limited  than  the  Latin  curriculum.  To  this  cause 
are  we  to  ascribe  the  fact  that  Dr.  M.  was  not  the  proficient  in 
Greek  that  he  was  in  Latin.  Yet  he  never  underrated  the 
great  importance  of  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  Greek  to  a 
liberally  educated  man,  and  especially  to  a  minister  of  the 
Gospel.  He  died  before  his  eldest  son,  the  writer  of  this 
sketch,  had  fully  attained  the  age  of  fourteen  years  ;  but  hav- 
ing a  hope  that  his  son  would,  if  spared  to  manhood,  enter 
the  ministry,  he  urged  him  to  devote  himself  earnestly  to  the 
study  of  the  Greek  language.  In  a  letter  to  him  of  the  date 
of  the  7th  of  November,  1812,  he  thus  writes:  "When  you 
write  to  me  again,  which  let  it  be  soon,  tell  me  what  you 
are  studying.  In  the  meantime,  be  sure  to  attend  particularly, 
to  your  Greek  ;  yet  upon  no  account  neglect  your  Latin.  Be 
assured,  that  notwithstanding  what  ignorant  or  lazy  people 
may  say,  it  is  a  matter  of  great  consequence  for  every  gentle- 
man, or  professional  man,  to  be  a  good  classical  scholar  ;  but, 
besides,  I  have  a  particular  end  in  view  in  making  you  one. 
-See  to  it  then,  and  be  careful  that  you  are  well  acquainted 
with  Prosody.  I  have  known  several  good  scholars,  who, 
from  inattention  to  Prosody,  have  made  themselves  laughing 
stocks  to  mere  drivellers  in  classical  literature." 


8 

While  a  member  of  the  University,  his  attention  must  have 
been  given  to  the  careful  study  of  Mathematics  and  Natural 
Philosophy,  and  especially  to  the  subject  of  Chemistry,  for  which 
he  seems  to  have  had  a  special  fondness,  and  to  which,  upon 
leaving  the  University,  he  continued  to  devote  throughout  life 
much  time  and  close  attention.  At  the  University  he  was, 
while  yet  a  lad,  a  member  of  the  Chemical  Society,  a  club  which 
appears  to  have  met  at  the  University,  with  the  permission  of 
the  College  authorities,  if  not  under  the  oversight  of  the  Pro- 
.  fessors.  The  members  submitted,  for  the  consideration  of  the 
Society,  papers  and  essays  upon  various  matters  connected 
with  the  object  of  their  association,  and  some  of  these  papers 
seem  to  have  foreshadowed  the  eminence  which  the  authors  of 
them  attained  in  after  life,  as  proficients  in  the  art  of  Chemis- 
try. The  names  of  several  of  the  members  of  this  Society 
are  given  in  a  note  on  page  6  of  a  "Memoir  of  Charles  Macin- 
tosh, PZsq.,  ¥.  R.  S.,"  by  his  son,  George  Macintosh.  They 
were  as  follows  :  Wm.  Couper,  Esq.,  Charles  Macintosh,  Esq., 
Mr.  Candlish  (father  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Candlish.  of  the  P>ee 
Church  of  Scotland),  Dr.  Tilloch,  editor  of  the  Philosophical 
Magazine,  London,  Dr.  Crawford,  Mr.  John  Wilson,  of  Hur- 
let,  near  Glasgow,  Major  P^inlay,  Royal  P.ngineers,  and  Dr, 
John  Maclean,  Professor  of  Chemistry  in  the  College  of  New 
Jersey.  The  last  named  was  probably  the  youngest  of  them, 
not  being  sixteen  years  of  age,  at  the  time  here  referred  to. 
There  were  other  members  besides  those  here  named,  and 
among  them  were  Mr.  Cruikshank,  Mr.  Archer  and  Mr.  Mon- 
roe, of  whom  mention  is  made  in  one  of  Dr.  Maclean's  papers 
read  before  the  Society. 

Mr.  Charles  Macintosh  was  four  years  older  than  his  friend 
Dr.    Maclean.     Some  extracts    from    the  essays  read  by  Mr. 


Macintosh  before  this  Society  are  given  in  his  son's  memoir  of 
him.  Seven  papers,  if  not  more,  written  by  Dr.  Maclean,  were 
also  read  before  it.  One  of  these  was  on  respiration,  another 
ow.  fermentation,  and  another  on  alkalies.  The  subjects  of  the 
others  are  unknown  to  the  writer  of  this  memoir.  Dr.  Mac- 
lean's papers  on  fermentation  and  alkalies  are  now  in  the  pos- 
session of  his  son.  Dr.  George  Macintosh  Maclean.  Some 
suggestions,  in  advance  of  the  science  of  that  day,  are  made 
in  these  two  papers,  e.  g. 

I.  That  pin\'  air  (oxygen)  is  the  efficient  cause  of  all  fer- 
mentation, and  this  in  opposition  to  the  opinion,  first  broached 
by  Mr.  Henry,  of  Manchester,  England,  that  fermentation  is 
due  to  the  presence  oi  fixed  air  (carbonic  dioxide). 

Dr.  Maclean  further  held,  that  water  is  the  medium 
through  which  pure  air  acts  on  the  fermentable  matter,  and 
that  if  the  quantity  of  moisture  is  small,  the  septic  power  of 
the  air  will  be  more  or  less  impeded  ;  and,  of  course,  the  fer- 
menting mass  will  be  detained  longer,  in  the  different  stages 
of  fermentation,  than  it  would  otherwise  be. 

This  paper  on  fermentation,  No.  5,  has,  in  the  handwriting 
of  the  author,  the  date  of  the  29th  of  March,  but  the  year  is 
not  given.  A  reference  in  the  paper  to  Dr.  Wm.  Irvine,  of 
Glasgow,  who  died  in  the  summer  of  1787,  shows  that  it  could 
7iot  have  been  written  later  than  March  of  that  year,  at  which 
time  Dr.  M.  was  sixteen  years  of  age.  Most  probably  it  was 
written  in  March,  1786,  when  he  was  but  fifteen.  No  allusion 
is  made  to  Dr.  Irvine's  decease,  but  certain  remarks  made  by 
him,  a  year  previous  to  the  writing  of  the  article  in  question, 
a,re  given  by  Dr.  Maclean. 


lO 

2.  In  his  paper  on  alkalies.  No.  7,  he  objected  to  the 
then  prevalent  division  of  sa!ts  into  simple  and  compound  ; 
the  simple  including  alkalies  and  acids,  and  he  inclined  to  the 
belief  that  all  alkalies  were  compounds.  Shortly  before  this 
BerthoUet  had  shown  that  aiiimoiiia,  a  volatile  alkali,  con- 
tained nitrogen  and  hydrogen. 

3.  The  paper  on  respiration,  with  some  notes  by  Dr. 
George  M.  Maclean,  was  misplaced  or  lost  by  the  writer  of 
this  memoir  about  thirty  years  ago.  The  design  of  the  notes 
was  to  point  out  the  agreement  of  the  views  advanced  in  the 
paper  itself  with  those  entertained  by  chemists  and  physicians, 
at  the  time  the  notes  were  written,  viz  :  in    1834-5. 

After  stating  his  objections  to  the  various  theories  ad- 
vanced on  this  subject.  Dr.  Maclean  gave  it  as  his  own  opin- 
ion, that  oxygen  being  absorbed  by  the  blood  in  the  lungs,  is 
conveyed  by  the  blood  through  the  body,  and  that  in  the 
course  of  the  general  circulation  it  unites  with  carbon,  form- 
ing carbonic  acid,  which  is  giv^en  off  principalh'  at  the  lungs, 
but  in  part  at  the  skin.  Thus  he  accounted  for  the  general 
distribution  of  animal  heat  through  the  body.  The  increase 
of  heat  in  local  inflammations,  he  supposed  to  be-  due  to  the 
enlargement  of  the  blood  vessels  in  the  parts  affected,  more 
blood  than  usual  thereby  flowing  through  them,  and  giving  a 
greater  degree  of  heat. 

The  Lecturer  on  Chemistry,  in  the  Universit}'  of  Glasgow, 
at  this  time,  was  the  above  named  Dr.  William  Ir\'ine,  a  lec- 
turer and  teacher  of  much  note.  He  was  Dr.  Maclean's  first 
instructer  in  Chemistry,  and  he  is  spoken  of  in  respectful 
terms  in  one  of  Dr.  M.'s  papers  read  before  the  Chemical  So- 
ciety'   of    that     institution.      Although     Chemistr\'    was     not 


1 1 

included  in  the  curriculum  of  studies  assigned  to  the  Arts, 
yet  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  Dr.  Maclean  attended  the  lec- 
tures of  Dr.  Irvine,  while  yet  a  student  in  the  department  of 
the  Arts.  In  years  1786  and  '8y  he  attended  the  lectures  on 
the  Theory  and  Practice  of  Physics,  and  also  on  Anatomy, 
Midwifery,  and  Botany,  as  appears  from  the  following  certifi- 
cates given  him  by  Dr.  Alexander  Stevenson: 

"  That  Mr.  John  Maclean  attended  my  lectures  on  the 
Theory  and  Practice  of  Physic  is  certified  by 

Alex.  Stevenson,  M.  D." 
Also, 

"  That  he  attended  t/iree  courses  of  Anatomy  under  my 
late  colleague  Mr.  W.  Hamilton  ;  besides,  a  course  of  Botany 
and  one  of  Midwifery.  Alex.  Stevenson. 

Glasgow  College,  Sept.  20,  1790." 

As  it  was  his  purpose  to  become  a  Surgeon  rather  than  a 
practitioner  of  Physic,  it  is  highly  probable  that  during  the 
years  1786  and  '8y  he  also  attended  the  lectures  on  surgery, 
which,  however,  may  have  been  given,  and  probably  were,  in 
connection  with  those  on  Anatomy. 

Leaving  Glasgow,  he  repaired  to  Edinburgh,  chiefly,  it  is 
presumed,  that  he  might  have  the  privilege  of  attending  Dr. 
Black's  course  of  lectures  and  experiments,  which  had  se- 
cured for  him  a  very  high  reputation  as  a  chemist  and  a 
teacher,  especially  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland.  Dr.  Black  was 
^  pupil  of  the  celebrated  Dr.  Wm.  Cullen,  when  Dr.  C.  was 
■  tlje  Lecturer  on  Chemistry  in  the  University  of  Glasgow,  and 
the  successor  of  Dr.  Cullen  in  the  University  of  Edinburgh. 
^How  long  Dr.  M.  remained  at  Edinburgh  is  not  known.  The 
statement  that  he  did  pursue  his  studies  at  this  city,  for  a  Ion- 


I  2 

g^r  or  sliortLT  time,  if  the  writer's  memory  does  not  fail  him, 
is  made  on  the  authority  of  a  letter  brought  by  Dr.  Maclean 
to  America,  but  now  lost.  This  letter  was  in  the  hands  of 
the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Miller,  of  Princeton,  at  the  time  he 
wrote  a  brief  notice  of  Dr.  Maclean  for  the  edition  of  Lem- 
priere's  Universal  Biographical  Dictionary,  edited  by  Eleazar 
Lord,  Esq.,  and  published  in  New  York  in  1825.  The  fact  of 
his  studying  at  Edinburgh  is  mentioned  in  Dr.  Miller's  arti- 
cle. The  writer  of  this  letter  was  Dr.  Millar,  of  Glasorow.  and 
the  writer  of  this  memoir  inclines  to  the  opinion  that  the  gen- 
tleman here  named  was  Richard  Millar,  M.D.,  Lecturer  on 
Materia  Medica,  and  afterwards  Professor  of  the  same  in  the 
University  of  Glasgow,  from  1791  to  1834.  Dr.  Millar's 
commendation  of  Dr.  Maclean  was  in  very  strong  terms.  It 
may,  however,  have  been  John  Millar,  Esq.,  Advocate  and 
Professor  of  Law  in  the  University.  This  gentleman  was  on 
terms  of  intimacy  with  Mr.  George  Macintosh  and  family. 

Dr.  Maclean  went  also  to  London  and  Paris,  in  which  cities 
he  had  the  best  facilities  for  the  prosecution  of  his  studies  in 
chemistry  and  surgery.  Returning  to  his  native  city,  after  an 
absence,  it  is  believed,  of  two  or  three  years,  from  1787  to 
1790,  he  resumed  here  his  studies  for  about  a  year,  and  then 
engaged  with  much  success  in  the  practice  of  his  chosen  pro- 
fession, while  at  the  same  time  he  continued  his  researches  in 
the  department  of  Chemistry,  and  he  was  regarded  by  some 
of  his  learned  friends,  scientists  of  that  day,  as  having  in  Scot- 
land no  superior  and  scarcely  an  equal  in  the  New  or  French 
Chemistry. 

At  the  time  of  his  becoming  a  member  of  the  Facult}'  of 
Physicians  and  Surgeons  he  was  in  the  twent}'-first  year  of 
his  age. 


From  the  date,  Sept.  20,  1790,  of  Dr.  Stevenson's  certifi- 
cate, it  is  evident  that  it  must  have  been  given  after  Dr.  Mac- 
lean's return  from  Paris,  and  with  a  view  to  his  engaging  in 
the  practice  of  surgery  at  Glasgow  ;  and  that  his  sojourn  in 
London  and  Paris  must  have  occurred  at  the  time  suggested 
above,  viz  :  between  1787  and  1790.  In  one  of  his  lectures 
to  his  classes  in  the  College  here,  he  mikes  men.tion  of  meet- 
ing Dr.  Crawford  in  London  in  1790.  This  must  have  oc- 
curred on  his  way  from  Paris  to  Glasgow.  Dr.  Crawford  was 
a  member  of  the  Chemical  Society  of  Glasgow. 

Dr.  Maclean's  diploma,  authorizing  him  to  practice  surgery 
and  pharmacy,  is  of  the  date  of  August,  1st,  179 1.  It  is 
signed  by  Dr.  Robert  Cleghorn,  the  President  of  the  Faculty 
of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  of  the  City  of  Glasgow,  and  by 
the  other  officers.  On  the  same  day  he  was  admitted  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Faculty,  and  continued  to  be  a  member  of  it  until 
his  death. 

It  was  his  happiness  to  have  been  a  student  in  Paris  at  the 
time  Lavoisier,  Berthollet,  Fourcroy,  and  other  eminent  culti- 
vators of  chemical  science  were  yet  living  and  at  the  height 
of  their  reputation  ;  and,  no  doubt,  their  teachings  exerted  a 
powerful  influence  upon  the  scientific  views  and  pursuits  of 
Dr.  M.  During  his  residence  at  Paris,  Dr.  Maclean  became 
such  a  proficient  in  the  French  language  that  he  could  read 
and  speak  it  with  as  much  facility  as  he  did  the  English.  Not 
only  did  Dr.  Maclean  embrace  the  new  system  of  Chemistry, 
_  as  developed  and  taught  by  the  French  Savans  of  this  period, 
but  he  appears  also  to  have  entertained  views  on  the  compar- 
>ative  merits  of  the  monarchical  and  republican  forms  of  gov- 
ernment, which  eventually  led  him  to  emigrate  to  the  United 
States. 


14 

In  the  party  strifes  of  his  adopted  country,  hj  took  but 
Httlt^  interest,  yet  he  was  devoted  to  her  welfare,  and  earnestly 
desired  her  success  in  the  war  of  i8 12-14,  before  the  close  of 
which  he  ended  his  earthly  career.  The  writer,  then  a  lad  of 
twelve,  w^as  quite  an  ardent  Federalist  ;  and,  offended  at  hear- 
ing his  father  spoken  of  as  a  Democrat,  he  mentioned  the  cir- 
cumstance to  him,  who  blandly  remarked  that  he  was  a  Brit- 
ish but  not  an  American  Democrat,  and  added,  that  being  by 
birth  a  foreigner,  he  deemed  it  his  duty  not  to  take  an  active 
part  in  any  merely  political  contests. 

His  coming  to  America  was  not  the  result  of  a  sudden  im- 
pulse, but  of  a  deliberate  conviction  that  he  ought  to  come.  This 
is  evident  from  a  letter,  of  the  date  of  Sept.  21,  1794,  to  Mrs. 
George  Macintosh,  of  Dunchattan,  Glasgow,  in  a  collection  of 
letters  WTitten  by  the  w^ell  known  Mrs.  Grant,  of  Laggan,  and 
published  under  the  title  of  "  Letters  from  the  Mountains." 
London,  1807.  Of  these  letters,  135  in  all,  five  and  twenty 
were  addressed  to  Mrs.  Macintosh,  an  admirable  lady,  and  one 
whose  mind,  to  use  an  expression  of  Mrs.  Grant's  respecting 
her,  was  "  so  strong,  and  yet  so  tender."  Mrs.  Macintosh  was 
the  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Charles  Moore,  of  Stirling,  Scotland, 
and  an  aunt  of  General  Sir  John  Moore.  The  following  is  an  • 
extract  from  the  above  mentioned  letter  of  Mrs.  Grant's  : 

"  Did  I  tell  you  what  pleasure  it  gives  me  to  tind  that  your  friend  and  favorite 
l)r.  Maclean  had  given  u])  tliat  wild  scheme  of  going  tt)  America?  I  was  fond 
of  that  ccjuntry  to  enthusiasm,  and  spent  the  most  delightful  and  fanciful  period 
of  my  life  in  it,  for  mine  was  a  premature  childhood.  The  place  where  I  resided 
was  the  most  desirable  in  the  whole  continent,  there  my  first  perceptions  of  plea- 
sure, and  there  my  earliest  habits  of  thinking  were  formed;  and  from  thence  I 
drew  that  high  relish  for  the  sublime  simplicity  of  nature  which  has  ever  accom- 
panied me.  This  has  been  the  means  of  jireserving  a  certain  humble  dignity  in 
all  the  difficulties  I  had  had  to  struggle  through.     \'ct.  from  wliat  I  know  of  the 


I 


0 


alterations  which  the  last  twenty  years  have  brought  about  in  that  country,  and 
the  still  greater  difference  which  other  views  and  associations  have  made  on  myself, 
though  I  had  it  now  in  my  power  to  return,  my  judgment  would  check  my  incli- 
nation." 

Although  he  did  for  a  time  yield  to  the  wishes  of  his  greatly 
esteemed  friends,  and  decided  to  remain  in  the  land  of  his  birth, 
yet  his  final  decision  was,  that  it  would  be  better  for  him  to 
settle  in  this  country,  the  political  sentiments  of  which  were 
fully  in  accord  with  his  own  :  and  in  which  he  would  have  as 
wide  a  field  for  scientific  research  and  usefulness,  as  he  could 
possibly  have  anywhere  else. 

Before  leaving  Scotland  for  America,  he  had  adopted,  and 
had  had  engraved  upon  his  watch  seal,  a  simple  Scotch  pebble, 
the  well  known  motto  of  "Ubi  libertas,  ibi  patria," — andbeliev- 
ing'that  his  idea  of  true  liberty  could  be  realized  most  readily 
and  happily  under  our  Republican  form  of  government  he 
determined  to  become  an  American  citizen.  Accordingly,  he 
left  Scotland  in  April  1795,  and  arrived  at  New  York,  the  same 
or  the  following  month. 

Dr.  Maclean's  guardian,  Mr.  Macintosh,  was  a  staunch  loy- 
alist, and  an  ardent  supporter  of  the  crown  and  throne  ;  yet 
their  different  political  creeds  never  interfered  in  the  least  with 
the  kind  feelings  and  affectionate  regards  which  they  enter- 
tained for  each  other: — the  relations  between  them  being  like 
that  of  father  and  son.  They  continued  to  correspond  as  long 
as  they  lived  ;.and  the  writer  of  this  memoir,  though  quite  a 
child  at  the  time,  distinctly  recollects  the  deep  sorrow  mani- 
fested by  his  father,  upon  receiving  the  intelligence  of  Mr. 
Macintosh's  decease.  As  an  expression  of  his  love  and  respect 
for  his  guardian  Dr.  Maclean  named  his  third  son  George 
Macintosh. 


i6 

In  a  letter  to  her  friend  Miss  Ourry,  Mrs.  Grant  thus  speaks 
of  this  gentleman  :  "  I  should  not  conclude  without  telling 
you,  that  Mr.  Macintosh  is  a  man  worth  taking  a  journey  to 
see,  not  of  active  benevolence  only,  but  of  restless,  impetuous 
benevolence.  I  will  teach  you  to  admire  him  at  more  leisure, 
having  no  time  now  to  do  him  justice." 

At  the  funeral  of  Mr.  Macintosh,  and  as  expressive  of  Mr. 
Macintosh's  character,  the  Rev.Dr.  Ritchie  of  Glasgow  preached 
a  sermon  from  the  words  **  He  hath  dispersed,  he  hath  given 
to  the  poor,  his  righteousness  endureth  for  ever,  his  horn  shall 
be  exalted  with  honor,"  and  in  the  course  of  his  sermon  he 
quoted  as  applicable  to  him  the  words  "  When  the  ear  heard 
him,  then  it  blessed  him,  because  he  delivered  the  poor  that 
cried  and  the  fatherless,  and  him  that  had  none  to  help  him. 
The  blessing  of  him  that  was  ready  to  perish  came  upon  him, 
and  he  caused  the  widow's  heart  to  sing  for  joy."  Dr.  R.  had 
previously  said,  "  He  was  not  ashamed  of  the  gospel  of  Christ, 
he  believed  its  doctrines,  he  acted  upon  its  laws." 

Until  Dr.  Maclean's  own  decease,  which  occurred  in  Feb- 
ruary 1 8 14,  there  was  also  an  intimate  friendship  between  him 
and  Charles  Macintosh,  Esq.,  the  eldest  son  of  his  guardian, 
who  never  forgot  the  family  of  his  companion  and  friend ;  but 
on  various  occasions  rendered  them  important  services,  in 
attending  to  matters  of  business  for  their  sakes. 

Mr.  Charles  Macintosh  while  yet  a  youth  was  much  devoted 
to  the  study  of  Chemistry,  in  which  he  became  a  proficient, 
and  made  several  valuable  discoveries  in  this  Art,  which  he 
turned  to  good  account  in  the  prosecution  of  his  profession  as 
a  manufacturer,  on  a  large  scale,  of  several  valuable  articles  of 
commerce.     His  knowledge,  skill  and  success  gave  him  both 


17 

reputation  and  large  wealth.  He  was  made  a  Fellow  of  the 
Royal  Society,  and  took  an  active  part  in  the  proceedings  of 
the  British  Association  for  the  advancement  of  science.  In 
the  memoir  of  his  life,  by  his  son  George  Macintosh,  not  less 
than  twelve  different  inventions  of  his  are  mentioned  :  and  some 
matters,  in  which  he  anticipated  the  discoveries  of  home  and 
foreign  chemists  by  several  years,  are  also  enumerated.  The 
well  known  Macintosh  water-proof  cloth  was  this  gentleman's 
invention. 

With  Dr.  Maclean,  or  about  the  same  time,  there  came  to 
this  country  his  friend  Dr.  and  Mrs.  John  C.  Millar,  and 
among  a  very  few  memoranda,  left  in  a  note  book  by  Dr. 
Maclean,  there  is  the  following  entry  respecting  a  seal  of  Dr. 
Millar's  given  to  him  by  Mrs.  Millar. 

"  Algernon  Sidney  wrote  in  the  album  of  the  University 
of  Copenhagen,  and  signed  these  lines,  which  may  be  consid- 
ered as  a  summary  of  his  principles  : 

"  Manus  haec,  inimica  tyrannis, 

Ense  petit  placidam  sub  libertate  quietem." 

N.  B.  Sub  libertate  quietem  is  the  motto  on  the  seal 
given  me  by  my  esteemed  friend  Mrs.  Millar,  the  daughter  of 
Dr.  Cullen.  It  belonged  to  her  husband  Dr.  John  C.  Millar, 
who,  like  myself,  was  an  exile."  This  last  remark  confirms 
the  opinion  expressed  above,  that  Dr.  Maclean's  political 
principles  had  much  to  do  in  bringing  him  to  America.  His 
friend,  Dr.  Millar,  went  to  the  then  Western  States,  with  the  ex- 
pectation of  settling  in  some  one  of  them,  if  he  should  find  a 
suitable  opening  ;  but  having  been  seized  with  a  fever  he  was 
cut  off  shortly  after  his  arrival  in  this  country.  His  widow, 
Mrs.   Millar,   it  is  the  impression  of  the  writer,  returned  to 


i8 

Scotland.  Her  father,  the  eminent  Dr.  W'm.  Cullen,  of  Kdin- 
burcrh,  died  four  or  five  \'ear.s  before  Mrs.  Millar  came  witli 
her  husband  to  the  United  States. 

Soon  after  his  arrival  in  New  York,  in  the  spring  of  1795, 
Dr.  Maclean  went  to  Philadelphia,  and  haxing  letters  to  some 
of  the  most  eminent  physicians  there,  he  called  upon  them, 
presented  his  letters  and  was  most  kindly  received.  Learnin^^ 
from  these  letters  and  from  personal  interviews  with  him,  his 
great  predilection  for  the  subject  of  Chemistry,  and  his  supe- 
rior attainments  in  this  science,  Dr.  Benjamin  Rush,  at  that 
time  at  the  head  of  the  medical  faculty  of  Philadelphia,  ad- 
vised his  settling  at  Princeton,  which  seemed  to  afford  the 
most  favorable  opportunity  for  turning  to  account  his  knowl- 
edge of  Chemistry,  and  also  for  his  engaging  in  the  practice  of 
his  profession  as  a  surgeon  and  physician. 

Satisfied  that  the  course  indicated  b}-  his  Philadelphia 
friends  was  a  wise  one,  he  came  to  Princeton  ;  and,  shortly 
after,  entered  with  much  success  on  the  practice  of  physic  and 
surgery,  in  connection  with  the  leading  physician  of  the  place, 
Dr.  Ebenezer  Stockton,  who  proved  himself  to  be  a  most  true 
and  valuable  friend  to  Dr.  M.,  and  also  to  his  family,  both  be- 
fore and  after  Dr.  Maclean's  decease,  for  more  than  forty - 
years.  The  business  partnership  between  them  continued  for 
only  two  years,  it  having  been  brought  to  a  close  by  the  ap- 
pointment of  Dr.  Maclean,  in  1797,  to  the  Professorship  of 
Mathematics  and  Natural  Philosophy  in  the  College,  which 
made  it  necessary  for  him  to  give  up  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession as  a  physician  and  surgeon.  While  so  employed  he 
performed  two  or  three  surgical  operations  not  usual  in  a 
country  practice,  and  which,  in  one  of  our   large  cities,  would 


19 

have  secured  for  him  an  opening  to  both  reputation  and 
wealth.  An  Enghsh  gentleman,  by  the  name  of  Palmer,  with 
whom  he  was  on  terms  of  great  intimacy,  often  urged  his  re- 
moval to  Philadelphia,  where  instead  of  making  a  bare  sup- 
port for  himself  and  family,  he  might  be  sure  of  obtaining  an 
ample  return  for  the  services  he  rendered.  But  his  preference 
for  the  quiet  and  regularity  of  an  academic  life  induced  him  to 
remain  at  Princeton,  until  the  summer  of  1812,  when  in  con- 
sequence of  certain  contemplated  changes  in  the  College 
Faculty,  he  tendered  his  resignation,  and  shortly  after  ac- 
cepted an  invitation  to  the  chair  of  Natural  Philosophy  and 
Chemistry,  in  the  College  of  William  and  Mary,  Williams- 
burg, Virginia. 

Upon  his  coming  to  Princeton,  in  the  early  summer  of 
1795,  he  delivered  in  the  College,  at  the  request  of  the  Presi- 
dent, Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Stanhope  Smith,  a  short  course  of  lec- 
tures on  Chemistry,  which  produced  so  favorable  an  impression 
in  regard  to  his  ability  as  a  lecturer,  that  at  the  next  meeting 
of  the  Trustees  he  was  chosen  Professor  of  Chemistry  and 
Natural  History,  with  the  understanding  that  he  was  at  liberty 
to  continue  his  profession  as  a  physician.  The  Commence- 
ment this  year  occurred  on  the  30th  of  September,  and  his 
election  on  the  day  following,  t'/s-.,  the  ist  of  October,  1795. 

Upon  the  decease  of  Dr.  Walter  Minto,  the  Professor  of 
Mathematics  and  Natural  Philosphy,  who  died  October,  1796, 
Dr.  Maclean,  at  the  request  of  the  Trustees,  assumed,  for  the 
next  College  term,  the  duties  of  his  late  colleague,  so  far  as 
the  instruction  in  Natural  Philosophy  was  concerned — Presi- 
dent Smith  at  the  same  time  taking  charge  of  the  mathemati- 
eal  department.      This    arrangement  was  made  at  a   special 


20 

meeting  of  the  Board,  held  in  November  of  the  same  year, 
1796.  At  the  next  statsd  nueting,  Tuesday,  the  iith  of 
April,  1797,  Dr.  Maclean  was  chosen  Professor  of  Mathe- 
matics and  Natural  Philosophy,  and  his  salary  was  fixed  at 
two  Jill  ?idrcd  and  fifty  poll  fids,  proc. ^^$666.66  a  \'ear — and  it 
was  "  ordered,  that  Chemistry  and  Natural  History  be  taught 
as  branches  of  Natural  Philosophy."  At  this  time  the  in- 
struction in  all  these  branches  was  given  only  to  the  members  of 
the  Junior  and  Senior  classes.  The  arrangement  here  spoken 
of  continued  until  the  year  1804,  when,  in  consequence  of  the 
large  increase  in  the  number  of  students,  the  Rev.  Andrew 
Hunter,  of  New  Jersey,  a  Trustee  of  the  College,  was  chosen 
Professor  of  Mathematics  and  Astronomy,  and  for  four  years 
he  taught  these  branches.  Upon  the  resignation  of  Professor 
Hunter,  in  1808,  Dr.  Maclean,  at  the  desire  of  the  Board, 
again  took  upon  himself  the  entire  charge  of  the  scientific  de- 
partment of  the  College,  and  continued  in  charge  thereof 
until  the  date  of  his  resignation,  in  September,  1 81 2.  For 
some  years  previous  to  his  resignation,  his  salary  was  $1,250 
a  year,  together  with  the  use  of  a  house  on  the  College 
grounds.  During  a  part  of  the  time,  if  not  for  the  whole  of 
it,  that  he  was  the  sole  Professor  of  Mathematics,  Natural 
Philosophy,  Chemistry  and  Natural  History,  he  was  assisted 
in  teaching  the  elementary  parts  of  Mathematics  by  one  of 
the  College  Tutors.  Whatever  changes  were  made  in  the 
College  curriculum,  or  in  the  provisions  for  conducting  it.  Dr. 
Maclean  never  ceased,  during  his  connection  with  the  College, 
to  be  its  Professor  of  Chemistry,  and  from  the  time  of  his  ap- 
pointment as  Professor  of  Mathematics  and  Natural  Philoso- 
j)h\'  he  gave  himself  wholly  to  the  serx'ice   of  the   Institution. 


21 

not  only  in  taking  a  large  share  in  its  teachings,  but  also  an 
active  part  in  its  government,  and  giving  his  assistance  when- 
ever it  was  needed.  Soon  after  his  appointment  as  Professor 
of  Chemistry,  the  following  letter,  written  by  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Smith,  was  given  to  the  public  in  "  Wood's  Newark  Gazette 
and  New  Jersey  Advertiser,"  of  the  i  ith  of  November,  1 795  : 

"  Mr.  Woods  : 

Your  inserting  the  following  information  in  your  Gazette  will  probably 
be  acceptable  to  the  students  of  Physic,  and  in  general  to  the  lovers  of  Natural 
Science  throughout  the  State  : 

Princeton,  October  26,  1795. 

The  Trustees  of  the  College  in  this  place,  at  their  last  meeting,  appointed  Ur. 
John  Maclean  Professor  of  Chemistry,  in  which  branch  of  science,  he  will  give 
an  extensive  course  of  lectures  during  the  ensuing  season.  He  will  also  lecture 
on  comparative  Anatomy,  provided  a  class  can  be  obtained  that  may  encourage 
him  to  bestow  the  necessary  pains.  Dr.  Maclean  has  studied  Chemistry,  Anato- 
my, Midwifery  and  Surgery,  at  Glasgow,  London  and  Paris.  He  brings  with 
him  the  highest  recommendations  from  Europe,  and  from  personal  acquaintance 
and  from  attending  a  short  course  of  Chemical  lectures,  I  can  assure  the  public 
that  of  that  subject,  and  of  the  newest  improvements  that  have  been  made  in  it, 
he  is  a  perfect  Master.  He  has  made  it  an  object  of  cultivation,  not  only  in  ref- 
erence to  medicine,  but  particularly  in  its  application  to  agriculture  and  manu- 
factures, so  useful  in  every  country,  but  especially  in  a  new  one.  Other  young 
men  besides  physicians,  of  a  studious  and  inquisitive  turn,  may  find  great  pleas- 
ure and  advantage  in  attending  these  lectures  ;  and  students  of  medicine  in  the 
State  who  wish  improvement  in  these  important  branches  connected  with  their 
future  professions,  and  seek  it  during  the  winter  season  in  the  neighboring  cities, 
may  be  saved  a  considerable  expense  by  attending  at  Princeton.  I  am  well  as- 
.  sured  from  the  abilities  of  the  Professor,  they  cannot  obtain  it  at  present  with  more 
advantage  at  any-  place  in  America  than  in  the  College  of  New  Jersey. 

Samuel  S.  Smith,  President  of  the  College." 

This  is  certainly  a  very  high  commendation   of  a  man  not 

yet  twenty-five  years  of  age ;    but  it  is  in  full  accord  with  the 

-statements  in  the  numerous  testimonials  which  he  brought 

with  him  from  Scotland.       From  these  testimonials  it  appears 


22 

that  witliin  less  than  four  )'cars  from  the  time  that  he  was  h- 
censed  to  practice  pliarmac)\  he  attained  a  high  reputation 
both  as  surgeon  and  a  chemist.  Some  of  the  testimonials 
have  been  lost,  but  not  a  few  are  still  in  possession  of  the 
writer,  which  fully  justify  the  commendations  bestowed  upon 
him  by  President  Smith.  In  a  letter  from  Dr.  James  Towers 
to  Dr.  Samuel  L.  Mitchell,  of  New  York,  Professor  of  Chem- 
istry in  Columbia  College,  the  writer  of  the  letter  in  speaking 
of  Dr.  Maclean  uses  this  language  : 

"  This  will  be  delivered  to  you  by  Mr.  Maclean,  Surgeon,  a  particular  ac- 
(juaintance  of  mine.  He  was  educated  at  the  school  where  we  became  ac- 
quainted, and  for  some  years  past  has  practised  in  this  City,  and  I  am  sorry  at 
his  departure,  as  it  deiMives  us  of  one  of  our  best  informed  members." 

"  You  will  find  him  in  every  respect  the  scholar  and  the  gentleman  :  and  as  a 
Chemist  he  has  net  left  his  equal  in  this  place."     (Glasgow). 

Dr.  James  Towers,  from  whose  letter  this  extract  is  given, 
was  at  the  date  of  the  letter  a  member  of  the  Faculty  of 
Physicians  and  Surgeons  of  the  City  of  Glasgow,  and  he  was 
also  an  P^xaminer  for  the  same  ;  and  subsequently  one  of  the 
Medical  Professors  in  the  University  :  and  his  is  one  of  the 
names  appended  to  the  diploma  authorizing  Dr.  M.  to  practise 
Surgery  and  Pharmacy. 

In  a  letter  to  Tobias  Lear,  PLsq.,  of  Washington  City,  from 
John  Pattison,  Esq.,  of  Glasgow,  the  following  passage  occurs, 
"  He  has  practised  in  this  City,  for  some  time  with  great  repu- 
tation and  has  most  ample  certificates  of  his  medical  abilities, 
and  1  have  no  doubt  that  he  will  prove  a  very  valuable  acqui- 
sition to  your  Capital."  P)r.  Maclean  upon  leaving  Scotland 
thought  of  making  Washington  City  the  place  of  his  residence. 

Dr.  James  M.  Adair  of  lulinburgh,  a  practical  chemist  of 
much    note,   in   a   letter   of  March    24th.    1795.   addressed    to 


23 


Robert  Brooke,  Esq.,  the  Governor  of  Virginia,  after  request- 
ing for  Dr.  Maclean  the  courteous  attentions  of  both  Governor 
and  Mrs.  Brooke,  adds,  "  You  will  particularly  oblige  me  by 
introducing  him  to  Mr.  Jefferson  as  a  gentleman  whose  Chemi- 
cal skill  is  likely  to  promote  essentially  the  agriculture  and 
manufactures  of  the  U.  S." 

In  the  beginning  of  the  letter  Dr.  Adair  mentions  that  his 
friend  Dr.  Maclean,  thinking  on  political  subjects  as  his  excel- 
lency and  he  himself  did,  is  determined  to  settle  in  America. 
In  a  letter  of  the  4th  of  April,  1795.  addressed  to  Mr.  Laird, 
Merchant  residing  in  Georgetown,  D.  C.,  Mr.  Alexander 
Oswald  of  Glasgow  says,  "  he  has  practised  here  with  great 
ability  and  reputation  for  some  years." 

In  a  letter  from  Messrs.  lohn  Youncj  &  Co.,  Merchants  of 
Glasgow,  to  their  correspondents,  Messrs.  McLear,  Cochrane 
&  Co.,  of  Philadelphia,  the  writer  says,  "  we  beg  leave  to 
recommend  him  to  your  civilities  not  only  as  our  particular 
friend,  but  as  a  young  man  of  merit,  and  whose  success  in 
whatever  way  he  means  to  establish  himself  we  have  much  at 
heart." 

Mr.  Macintosh,  the  guardian  of  Dr.  Maclean  when  a  youth, 
thus  speaks  of  him  in  a  letter  of  the  date  of  July  29th,  1794, 
addressed  to  Walter  Colquhoun,  Esq.,  Falmouth,  Va. 

"  Give  me  leave  to  introduce  to  your  acquaintance  and  friendship,  the  bearer 
of  this,  Mr.  John  Maclean,  Surgeon  here,  (Glasgow) — a  very  intimate  and  par- 
ticular friend  of  mine  and  my  family's,  a  young  man  of  very  eminent  abilities  in 
his  profession  as  a  Surgeon,  and  as  a  Chemist. — Perhajis  you  may  have  known 
hisfather  Dr.  John  Maclean  of  this  place. 

'This  young  friend  of  mine,  who  is  in  very  respectable  i")ractise  here,  in  his 

line,  has  taken  a  Fancy  to  settle  in  America,  and  I  hope  he  will  do  well 

^.   .   .   .      He  is  a  young  man  of  the  strictest  honour  and  integrity — of  good  parts 
and  knowledge,  and  for  whom  I  ha\  e  a  very  great  regard  and  friendship,  having 


24 

known  liim  from  his  cradle.  —  And  any  service  y(iU  can  (h)  him, — or  any  civilities 
you  may  show  him,  I  shall  consider  just  the  same,  as  if  done  to  a  Son  of  my 
own.  —  And  it  will  give  me  pleasure  if  you  put  it  in  my  power — to  do  the  same 
act  of  kindness  to  any  friend  of  your  house. 

I  again  warmly  recommend  this  young  gentleman  to  your  particular  regard. 
And  lielicve  me,  Dear  Sir, 

Vour  Most  Obedient  .Servant, 

Gkorge  M.\cintosh. 
Dear  Sir  :   Some  occurrences  prevented  Mr.  r»Iaclean  from  going  to  America 
at  the  time  he  intended,  and  that  the  foregoing  letter  was  wrote.      I  have  now  to 
confirm  what  I  formerly  said.     And  again  to  recpiest  your  friendship  and  atten- 
tion to  Mr.  Maclean,  and  you  will  thereby  confer  a  singular  favour  on  me. 
Cilasgow,  30lh  of  March,  1795." 

To  these  Icstimonial.s  from  individual  gentlemen,  we  will 
append  a  certificate  fi'om  the  Faculty  of  Physician.s  and  Sur- 
geons, which  is  as  follows  : 

Facii-TY   H.\ll,  Glascow,  March  30th,  1795. 

We  the  Faculty  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  of  (ilasgow,  considering  tlie  char- 
acter and  abilities  of  Mr.  John  Maclean,  Surgeon,  now  about  to  leave  this  coun- 
try, and  resolving  that,  besides  the  ordinary  Diploma  and  Certificate  of  his  admis- 
sion as  one  of  our  number,  we  should  give  some  authentic  testimony  of  our  esteem 
for  his  character  as  a  gentleman,  and  of  our  high  opinion  of  his  professional 
knowledge  and  abilities,  order  this  our  resolution  to  be  transcribed  from  our  books, 
and  to  be  sul)scribed  by  our  President  and  Visitor,  in  our  name  and  by  our 
authority,  as  a  certificate  of  this  our  high  o])inion  of  Mr.  Maclean's  character  and 
abilities  as  above  stated  ;  and  as  a  testimony  of  our  desire  to  promote  the  success  ' 
which  such  qualifications  deserve  in  whatever  part  of  the  world  he  may  happen 
to  reside. 

(Signed)  Jamks  Jeffray,  Pres. 

[sKAi..]  Wm.  Cot^PER,  Visitor. 

Dr.  Jeffray  was  at  this  time  Professor  of  Anatomy  in  the 
University  of  Glasgow  :  and  Mr.  Couper  an  eminent  Surgeon 
and  Chemist  of  the  City  of  Glasgow,  and  a  competitor  with 
[)\'.  Cleghorn  for  the  chair  of  Chemistr\-  in  the  University. 


25 

At  the  beginning  of  his  instructions,  in  thj  department  of 
Chemistry,  Dr.  Maclean  says  that  "  Chemistry  is  the  inv'estiga- 
tion  of  the  intimate  and  mutual  action  of  bodies  one  upon 
another  :  It  discovers  qualities  peculiar  to  each  substance." 
The  latter  clause  seems  to  have  been  added  b\'  Dr.  M.  to  a 
definition  given  by  some  one  else. 

The  subjects  handled  are  the  following,  viz.  : 

I.    Caloric.     2.   Light.     3.  Electricity.     4.    Oxvgcn. 

5.  y5?sci/i?,  and  under  this  head,  Atmospheric  Air, 

Nitrou"^  Acid,  Nitrous  Gas, 
Eudiometers  and  Nitric  Acid. 

6.  Hydrogtu,  Water,  Ammonia, 

Nitrate  of  Ammonia. 

7.  Sulphur,  Sulphurous  Acid,  Sulphuric  Acid, 

Sulphuretted  Hydrogen,  Sulphuret  (jf  Anmi(,nia. 
S.   Phosphorus,  Phosphoric  Acid,  Phosphorous  Acid, 

Phosphorated  Hydrogen,  Sulphuret  of  Phosj^horus. 
9.    Carbon,  Carbonic  Acid,  Carbonate  of  Ammonia. 

Fixed  or  Gross  Oils,  Lamp-black. 
Circular  Wicks  or  many  small  wick>. 
Volatile  or  Aromatic  Oils,  Alcohol. 
Ether,  Sweet  oil  of  wine. 
Camphor,  Camphoric  Acid. 
Resins,  Caoutchouc,  Copal. 
Sugar,  Pyromucous  Acid. 
•  Oxalic  Acid,  Sugar  Candy. 

Vinous  fermentation.  Acetous  Acid  an  1  fermentation, 

Acetic  Acid. 
Acetic  Ether,  Putrefactive  fermentation. 
Gum,  Gum-resin,  Starch. 
N  •  Acids  of  different  fruits,  Pyroligneous  Acid. 

'     ■  Soft  parts  of  animals.  Portable  soup. 

'  Glue,  Tallow,  Formic  Acid,  Lactic  and  Saccholactic 

Acids. 
^  o.    Silex. 
1 1 .   Altimine,  Pottery. 


26 


12.  Magnesia. 

13.  Lime. 

14.  Baryies. 

15.  Strontifes. 

16.  Potash, 


17.  .S'^^/f/, 

18.  Muria.'ii  Aciil, 


19. 

Fluoric  Acid. 

20. 

Boracic  Acid. 

21. 

Arsenic. 

22. 

Molydemim. 

23- 

Tungsten. 

24. 

Cobalt, 

25- 

Bismuth. 

26. 

Xickel. 

27- 

Alanganese. 

28. 

Antimony. 

29. 

Alercury. 

30- 

Zinc. 

31- 

Tin. 

32. 

Lead. 

ll>- 

Iron, 

34- 

Copper. 

35- 

Silver. 

36. 

Gold. 

37- 

Platina. 

(ieneral  remarks  on 

Nitre,  (iunpowdt-r,  Pot  and  I'earl  Asho. 
Caustic  lye,  Cream  of  Tartar,  Salt  of  Tartar. 
Soaps,  Bleaching,  Glass. 
Liver  of  Sulphur,  Glauber  salts. 
Carbonate  of  Soda,  Soap,  Glass. 
O-xygenated  Muriatic  Acid,  Bleaching. 
Different  Muriates,  Glazin^r  eirthcrn  ware, 
Sejxaration  of  common   salt   fr')m   \v.i;er>    of   S|)riiv. 
and  the  Sea. 


Sympathetic  ink,  -Ziffre,  —  Smalls,  A/;me  blue. 


Ink,  Pru>sian-blue,    Tin-platr. 


Metals,  and  on  Chemical  combinations. 

Second  Course. 
Of  Living  or  .Knimated  bodies. 

Of    Vegetables. 
Their  structure   and   ori/anization. 


27 

Of  Vegetable   Productions. 

1 .  Mucilage. 

2.  Sugar,  Wine,  Rum,  \'inc^ar. 

3.  Man7ia. 

4.  Starch,  Farina,  Bread,  Malt  Liquors. 

Gross  or  Fat  Oils. 

Volatile  Oils. 
Preparation  of  Cani])hor,  of  Resins,  of  Guinresins,  \Vine,  and  Cider. 
Composition  of  Vegetables. 
Use  of  vegetable  mould. 
Formation  of  soil  on  rocks. 
Use  of  plowing,  fallowing,  and  farming  land. 
The  preparation  of  scjil. 
Food  and  stimulants  for  i)lants. 
Possible  to  render  rotation  of  crops  unnecessary. 
Notes  on  Tanning  and  Currying. 

From  the  above  enumeration  it  appears,  that  in  his  lectures 
on  Chemistry,  Dr.  Maclean  gave  attention  to  the  relations  it 
sustains  to  Agriculture  and  Manufactures,  as  well  as  to  those 
which  it  has  to  Medicine. 

Electricity,  although  treated  of  in  its  relations  to  Chemis- 
try, was  more  fully  handled  as  a  distinct  branch  of  Natural 
Philosophy.     The  same  remark  is  true  of  Light. 

For  ten  or  twelve  years,  Dr.  Maclean's  instructions  in 
Chemistry  were  given  by  lectures  and  experiments,  without 
the  use  of  a  text  book,  but  upon  the  republication  in  this  coun- 
try, of  Dr.  Wm.  Henry's  "  Epitome  of  Chemistry,"  edited  with 
notes,  by  Dr.B.  Silliman,  Yale  College,  in  1808,  Drs.  Maclean 
and  Silliman  united  in  a  recommendation  of  Mr.  Henry's  work, 
-and  adopted  it  as  a  text  book,  for  their  respective  classes,  using 
it  in  connection  with  their  lectures.  Dr.  Henry  was  a  resident 
of  Manchester,  England,  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society,  and  a 
member   of  several    Philosophical   Societies,  in  Great  Britain 

• 


2S 

and  on  the  Continent  of  Kurope.  In  1819,  an  edition  of  Dr. 
Henry's  Klements  of  Kxperimental  Chemistry,  was  repubHshed 
in  Philadelphia,  from  the  eighth  London  edition,  under  the 
supjrvision  of  Dr.  Robert  Hare,  the  eminent  Professor  of 
Chemistry  in  the  Medical  department  of  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  in  181 8  a  successor  uf  Dr.  Maclean  in  the 
chair  of  Natural  Philosophy  and  Chemistry  in  the  CoUei^e  of 
William  and  Mary,  Williamsburgh,  Vir^^inia. 

In  the  other  departments  of  Science,  he  relied  chiefly  upon 
text-books,  in  conducting  the  studies  of  his  pupils — adding  such 
remarks  as  he  deemed  requisite  for  the  further  elucidation  of 
the  subjects  therein  handled. 

The  text-books  in  Mathematics  appear  to  have  been  Thomas 
Simpson's  Algebra,  also  his  Trigonometry,  plain  and  spheri- 
cal, Robert  Simpson's  PZuclid  and  his  Conic  sections,  Play- 
fair's  Kuclid,  Gibson's  Surveying,  Moore's  Navigation.  It  is 
not  improbable  that  there  were  other  works  used  in  the  course 
of  the  ten  or  eleven  years,  that  Dr.  Maclean  was  Professor 
of  Mathematics,  but  of  this  the  writer  cannot  speak  with  con- 
fidence. 

In  Natural  Philosophy,  the  treatise  used  as  3.  ■  text-book  for 
some  years  at  least,  was  Enfield's  "  Institutes  of  Natural  Philos-  • 
ophy,"  London,  1799.  Helsham's  Natural  Philosophy  and 
Nicholson's  Introduction  to  Natural  Philosophy,  were  also 
probably  used  during  a  part  of  the  time,  inasmuch  as  they 
were  so  used  by  his  immediate  predecessor,  Dr.  Minto. 

In  the  various  branches  of  Natural  Philosophy  much  oral 
instruction  was  given  by  Dr.  M.,  and  this  accompanied  b}' 
numerous  illustrations  and  experiments.  His  own  library  con- 
tained most  of  the  more  valuable  works  on  this  subject,  in  both 
the  English  and  the  French   lanfruaee. 


29 

The  Philosophical  apparatus  of  the  College,  for  several 
years  after  his  appointment  as  Professor  was  upon  a  very  limited 
scale,  and  it  often  tasked  the  Professor's  ingenuity  to  construct 
articles  of  apparatus  suited  to  his  purpose.  One  or  two  of 
these  are  still  in  the  possession  of  the  College,  viz.,  a  small 
ealvanic  batterv  and  a  voltaic  pile.  Thes.'  of  course  are  now 
of  no  value  other  than  as  showing  the  progress  since  made  in 
apparatus  of  this  kind. 

To  what  extent  instruction  was  giv^en  in  Natural  History, 
the  writer  is  unable  to  say  :  but  more  or  less  it  was  made  a 
subject  of  attention  and  study  by  the  successive  classes.  And 
to  render  the  study  more  attractive  to  the  pupils,  especially  in 
the  department  of  Zoology,  a  valuable  cabinet  was  purchased 
in  1802  by  President  Smith  and  the  Professors,  and  offered  to 
the  Trustees  at  cost.  To  enable  the  Trustees  to  purchase  this 
Museum,  the  Hon.  p:iias  Boudinot,  LL.D.,  gave  them  a  tract 
of  land  in  the  State  of  New  York,  valued  at  ;^3,ooo. 

In  1796,  the  year  after  Dr.  Maclean  bsgan  his  instructions 
at  the  College,  Dr.  Priestley  published  a  pamphlet  entitled 
"  Considerations  on  the  doctrine  of  Phlogiston  and  the  Decom- 
position of  Water,"  which  paper  was  reviewed,  in  "  two  lectures 
on  Combustion  supplementary  to  a  course  of  lectures  read  at 
Nassau  Hall,"  by  Dr.  Maclean.  This  review  by  Dr.  M.  was 
published,  and  with  the  following  advertisement  prefixed. 
"  Owing  to  other  engagements  a  part  only  of  the  first  of  these 
lectures  was  read  to  the  students.  They  are  now  printed  to 
.s:ave  the  young  gentlemen  the  trouble  of  transcribing  them. 
^  J.   M. 

P.  S.  //  was  not  till  after  they  were  sent  to  the  press,  that  I 
7vas  informed  Mr.  Aciet  had  published  a  )i  answer  to  Dr.  Priestley  s 
pamphlet!' 


30 

Mr.  Adet's  was  written  in  French,  and  was  published  in 
Philadelphia,  in  1797.  about  a  week  before  Dr.  Maclean's. 

Mr.  Adet  was  at  this  time  the  Minister  of  the  French  Gov- 
ernment to  this  country  :  yet  he  modestly  speaks  of  himself 
in  the  title-page  of  his  pamphlet  as  a  Member  of  the  Philo- 
sophical Society  of  Philadelphia,  &c. 

Both  these  reviews  of  Dr.  Priestley's  article  were  adverse 
to  the  opinions  of  Dr.  Priestley,  and  to  them  he  gave  an  earn- 
est response  in  another  paper,  dedicated  to  his  friend  Samuel 
Galton,  PLsq.,  of  Birmingham,  P^ngland,  and  of  the  date  of  Feb. 
1st,  1800.  Thi  paper  which  gave  rise  to  these  Reviews  by 
Mr.  Adet  and  Dr.  Maclean  was  of  the  date  of  June  15th,  1795. 
and  was  inscribed  to  Messrs.  Berthollet,  De  LaPlace,  Monge. 
Morveau,  P^ourcroy,  and  Hassinfratz  : — tJic  si;nnviug  ansi^'crcn 
of  Mr.  Kinvan. 

The  discussion  of  the  questions  in  these  papers  was  con- 
tinued for  a  time  in  the  New  York  Medical  Repository,  by 
Drs.  Priestley,  Maclean,  Woodhouse  and  Mitchell.  The  last 
named  gentleman,  one  of  the  P^ditors  of  the  Repository,  en- 
deavored to  maintain  a  position  intermediate  between  those  of 
Drs.  P.  and  M.,  and  Dr.  Woodhouse  of  Philadelphia  while 
dissenting  from  the  opinions  of  Dr.  Priestley,  on  the  main 
matter  in  question  took  occasion  to  reflect  with  severity  on 
some  of  Dr.  Maclean's  views  and  experiments  and  his  mode  of 
.stating  them,  which  called  forth  from  the  latter  a  somewhat 
sharp  reply.  Dr.  Woodhouse  having  avowed  his  purpose  not 
"  to  be  the  first  to  drop  the  subject,"  in  case  Dr.  Maclean,  ad- 
vancing nothing  but  what  was  founded  upon  his  own  experi- 
ments, should  again  reply  to  Dr.  Priestley,  Dr.  M.  says  in 
answer.  "  It  has  been  already  intimated   in   my  letter  to    Dr. 


Mitchell  which  you  have  seen,  that  it  is  my  intention  to  repl\' 
to  Dr.  Priestley  ;  and  I  cannot  think  that  I  will  be  deterred 
from  doing  so,  because  you  have  threatened  to  be  my  impugn- 
er  : — on  the  contrary  you  are  welcome  to  make  whatsoever 
observ^ations  you  may  choose  on  my  performance,  and  I  see 
no  material  objection  to  their  being  communicated  to  the 
public  under  the  cover  of  an  address  to  me. — At  the  same  time 
be  informed,  you  will  write  to  one  who  so  far  from  being  a 
punctual  correspondent,  even  his  friends  complain  that  their 
letters  are  unanswered  ;  so  it  is  more  than  probable,  he  will 
take  no  notice  of  your  criticisms." 

The  opinions  maintained  by  Dr.  Maclean,  and  which  are 
those  of  Lavoisier  and  his  co-laborators  in  Chemical  Science, 
have  continued  to  hold  their  ground,  with  only  such  changes 
as  the  progress  of  that  science  has  suggested. 

A  copy  of  Mr.  Adet's  pamphlet  and  two  copies  of  his  own 
were  sent  by  Dr.  Maclean  to  Dr.  Robert  Cleghorn,  an  eminent 
physician  of  Glasgow,  and  at  that  time  the  Lecturer  on  Chem- 
istry in  the  University  of  that  City.  Dr.  Maclean  also  for- 
warded to  Dr.  Cleghorn  the  numbers  of  the  Medical  Reposi- 
tory containing  his  replies  to  Drs.  Priestley  and  Woodhouse  : 
and  from  his  wise  and  learned  friend  he  received  an  admirable 
letter  in  reference,  more  especially,  to  his  continuing  the  con- 
troversy in  the  Repository. 

Dr.  Cleghorn's  letter  is  of  the  date  of  August  i  ith,  1800, 
and  with  some  omissions  it  is  as  follows  : 

I  received  the  letter  you  mention,  and  I  read  it  with  satisfaction.  Not  knowing 
the  provocation  you  had  received,  or  the  character  of  your  oi)ponent,  I  could  not 
judge  of  the  propriety  with  which  you  held  him  up  to  contempt,  which  you  do  in 
a^iiianner  very  marked  tho'  by  no  means  intemperate.  In  the  dispute  your  char- 
acter as  a  Chemist  and  Philosopher  has  lost  nothing;   but  still  I  wish  you  had  not 


32 

entered  into  il.  Your  tippiUKiit,  to  whom  nc;  tluul)L  Science  owes  much,  has  long 
been  addicted  to  disputation  in  a  manner  more  calcuhited  to  secure  victory  than 
to  promote  truth  ;  and  upon  the  subject  of  jihlogiston  he  either  does  not  think  at 
all,  or  thinks  with  an  obliciuity  altogether  i)eculiar.  His  conviction  therefore  i^ 
in  a  good  measure  out  of  the  ([uestion,  nor  do  I  think  your  students  were  in  a 
great  risk  of  being  perverted,  at  least  if  I  may  judge  from  our's.  Some  things 
have  been  printed  in  the  Monthly  Magazine  prefaced  with  great  candor  and  pro- 
fessing novelty,  but  I  have  heard  of  none  who  were  ever  staggered  by  Experi- 
ments altogether  devoid  of  precision,  or  inferences  as  loose  as  the  premises  were 
unfounded.  I  am  persuaded  that  the  very  circumstance  of  his  now  standing  alone 
will  make  him  stand,  and  repeat  the  same  unvarying  objections  that  he  has  so  often 
given  in  every  form,  except  that  of  plain  deductions  from  precise  Experiment-. 
I  hope  you  will  withdraw  from  thi>  field  as  soon  as  you  can,  and  pnjsecute  at 
leisure  those  researches  for  which  nature  has  qualified  you  beyond  most  men. 
S(jme  of  them  I  imagine  may  lead  you  to  results  unknow  n  or  imperfectly  under- 
stood at  present,  and  I  would  not  debase  these,  by  sending  them  through  such  a 
channel  as  you  have  sometimes  employed,  but  publish  them  by  themselves,  notic- 
ing as  little  as  possible  ephemeral  authors,  or  disputes.  By  declining  C(jntro- 
versy,  Newton  shewed  his  superior  sagacity.  It  interrupts,  said  that  great  man. 
the  tranquillity  of  mind  most  favourable  to  the  finding  of  truth,  and  which  is  more- 
QYer omni  pretio  majus.  You  will  excuse  this  freedom  in  one  w  ho  is  your  supe- 
rior in  years  only,  and  I  assure  you  it  proceeds  merely  from  the  sincerity  of  my 
re<rard  and  my  desire  to  see  your  abilities  bent  towards  the  discovery  of  truth  with 
all  their  force  undivided.  We  have  here  a  profusion  of  literary  news,  as  the 
journals  are  innumerable  and  unfortunately  like  the  Stage  Coach  which  sets  olT 
whether  there  be  anything  in  the   inside   or  no.      By  the  bye,  your  countryman 

I'erkins,  (i.  e.,  if  you  be  a  citizen  of  America)  is  an  arrant  Charlatan 

His  tractors  are  bits  of  Brass  and  Iron.  I  had  an  ()i)i)ortunity  of  applying  them 
to  the  immortal  Mr.  Watt,  and  I  found  they  benefitted  the  w  ise  no  mm-e  than  the 
ignorant."  Of  all  the  late  publications,  there  is  none  which  I  wish  to  see  so  much 
as  the  Encyclopedic  Methodique  by  Guston.  The  little  1  liave  seen  is  most  admi- 
rable, but  I  cannot  get  it.  Perhaps  you  have  been  more  fortunate  .... 
You  may  be  thankful  that  my  time  is  ended,  otherwise  you  would  have  been 
pestered  longer  by  your  sincere  friend.  l<-  Cleghorn. 

Not  only  did  Dr.  M.  take  in  £,^ood  part  his  friend's  advice, 
but  he  followed  it  ;  so  far  at  least  as  to  withdraw  from  all 
public  controversy. 


To  Dr.  Cleghorn's  friendship,  Dr.  M.  was  indebted  for  other 
favours  :  77.C.,  for  obtaining  for  him  the  degree  of  M.D.  from 
the  University  of  Aberdeen  ;  at  which  University  it  was  not 
necessary  for  him  to  appear  personally  in  order  to  receive  the 
degree,  as  was  the  case  at  Glasgow  ;  and  also  by  bringing  about 
a  change  in  the  rules  of  the  Faculty  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons 
of  Glasgow,  by  which  the  widow  of  a  member  residing  abroad 
could  establish  her  claim  to  the  usual  allowance  granted  to  the 
widows  and  children  of  deceased  members  ;  and  in  virtue  of 
which  Mrs.  Maclean  received,  after  the  death  of  Dr.  M.,  a 
valuable  annuity  during  the  remainder  of  her  life. 

The  kind  offices   of  Dr.  C.  just  mentioned  are  among  the 

matters  spoken  of  in  a  letter  of  a  previous  date  to  that  of  the 

one  given  above,  and  which  was  as  follows: 

Glasgow,  March  9th,  1798. 
My  Dear  Sir. 

Different  circumstances  have  hitherto  prevented  me  from  thanking  you  for 
your  last  letter,  and  for  the  pamphlet,  (his  Lectures  on  Combustion,)  which  accom- 
panied it.  I  have  read  it  over  with  great  pleasure,  and  in  my  opinion  it  does  you 
credit.  I  showed  it  to  all  your  old  friends,  among  others  to  P.  Wilson,  who 
in  return  sends  you  a  paper  of  his.  I  sent  Dr.  Rollo  an  account  of  two  diabetic 
patients,  whose  cases  he  has  published  in  a  work  well  worth  your  attention,  and 
I  dare  say  you  have  seen  it ;  however,  I  send  you  a  copy  of  my  cases. 

From  the  date  of  your  diploma  you  will  see  that  you  have  been  a  Physician 
some  time,  as  I  took  care  to  announce  in  the  newspapers,  but  I  had  not  sooner 
an  opportunity  of  sending  out  your  commission.  If  it  is  intercepted  I  am  to  have 
another  without  expense.  Your  business  with  the  Faculty  was  not  finally  settled 
till  last  month,  when  I  paid  up  your  quarter  contribution  till  the  date  of  a  minute 
(^f  the  P\aculty  which  I  enclose  along  with  the  papers.  The  receipt  from  the 
Collector  I  gave  to  Millar  &  Ewing,  from  whom  I  got  the  money  for  this  and  the 

grdduation. On  every  occasion  it  will  give  me   pleasure  to 

do  anything  for  you  in  this  country. 

Everything  is  advancing  rapidly  to  a  great  crisis;  though  of  what  kind, 
heaven  alone  knows.     We  expect  an  invasion  somewhere  very  soon,  and  volun- 


34 

tary  contributions  are  j^oing  on  everyw  licrc  lliri)UL,'1i  tlic  whole  island  to  ])iovi<ie 
the  sinews  of  war.  Eveiything  is  revolutioni/ing  or  revolutionized  throughout 
Europe.  The  Pope  is  annihilated;  (Germany  is  dismembered,  and  the  Swiss 
oligarchies  are  following  the  fate  of  the  Venetian.  Till  lately  we  looked  at  the 
battle  from  afar,  but  now  our  peaceful  shores  are  likely  to  be  stained  with  much 
blood.  Political  disputes  become  daily  more  and  more  bitter; — every  one  who 
doubts  Mr.  Pitt's  ability  being  marked  as  an  Anarchist  and  an  Atheist,  while 
those  who  believe  in  him  are  calletl  slaves  and  .sycojihants.  Sucli  has  always 
been  the  humour  of  men  before  civil  commotions — but  why  should  I  thus  ser- 
monize you  who  are  without  our  vorte.x  I  The  difficulty  of  continental  inter- 
course keeps  us  very  much  behind.  A  good  deal  is  doing  b\  the  National  Insti- 
tute and  the  Ptjlytechnic  School. 

Vou  have  no  doubt  seen  the  exjierimenls  on  Alum,  ))ro\  ing  that  it  contains  a 
(juantily  of  potash  or  ammonia,  as  one  of  its  ingredients  ;  and  that  the  crystaliza- 
tion  is  promoted  as  well  by  the  acidulous  sulphate  of  jiotash  as  by  the  carbonate, 
nay  better.  Wiuv  ol<l  actpiaintance  Mr.  Macintosh  i.s  availing  himself  of  this  in 
a  work  near  (Glasgow  ;  \\  here  copj^eras  was  formerly  made,  and  where  Alum  is 
now  to  l;e  ])reparcd  aNo.  The  same  gentleman  with  Mr.  Couper  and  two  others 
have  taken  a  jiatent  for  bleaching  by  the  oxymuriate  of  lime  instead  of  pota>h. 
The  lime  being  stirred  among  water  e.\p.)se.l  ta  oxymuriatic  acid  gas  combine> 
with  it  readily,  becoming  very  soluble  in  water,  and  forming  a  bleaching  liquor 
equal  to  the  old  in  every  respect,  superior  in  some,  particularly  in  mellowing  and 
improving  some  colours  injured  b-y  the  other.  1  he  exjieriment  was  begun  and 
completed  by  a  very  sensible  bleacher  named  Tennant,  and  he  imparted  it  to  the 
others,  that  they  might  assist  him  to  make  the  most  of  it.  (Ivirles  (Macintosh) 
is  at  present  in  Lancashire  and  meets  with  great  encouragement.  He  asks  the 
profit  on  the  saving  of  potash  for  the  first  six  nionths.  Your  old  friend  C.  Wilson, 
has  retired  from  business,  having  got  home  something  considerable  from  the  East 
Indies.  I  am  glad  of  this  on  his  account  but  not  on  my  own,  as  I  have  received 
much  friendship  from  him.  ^'ours  very  sincerely. 

RoUKRT    Cl.KllHoRN. 

The  following;-  letter  from  George  Macinto.sh,  K.scj.,  makes 
mention  of  Dr.  Cleghorn,  and  also  shows  that  he  also  expected 
that  Dr.  Maclean  would  make  valuable  additions  to  the  stock 
of  Chemical  knowledge  : 


(-iLAbc;o\v,  6lh  of  Deccml^er,  1795. 
My  dkar  John. 

Your    letter   of  the    Sth    of  July  I   received,  which   afforded   this   family   and 

many  more  of  your  friends  much  satisfaction We  were  all  glad 

to  hear  that  you  met  with  such  civilities  in  New  \'ork  and  IMiiladelphia,  and  I  am 
niucli  indebted  to  Mr.  Ross  for  his  attention.  We  are  all  particularly  hapjiv,  at 
your  appointment  to  the  Professorship  of  Chemistry  in  the  College  of  New  Jer- 
sey,—  and  on  which  I  h(  pe  I  may  congratulate  you,  being  a  thing  I  am  sure  will 
suit  your  genius  and  for  which  I  am  sure  you  are  well  qualilied  ;  and  I  doulitnol 
of  your  making  many  useful  and  important  discoveries  in  the  line  of  your  new 
profession Dr.  Hope  is  called  to  Edinburgh  to  be  assist- 
ant and  siiccesscr  to  Dr.  Black,  and  has  left  this  College.  The  Medical  Class  is  in 
the  meantime  su]  plied  by  Dr.  CJeghcrn,  who  is  a  candidate  and  so  is  Dr.  Couper. 
It  is  yet  uncertain  who  will  succeed.      It  is  the    King"s   presentation.      I    believe 

the  Professors  are  for  Clegliorn Now  John  write  me 

often.  You  knew  all  this  lamily  is  warmly  interested  in  you,  and  be  as  [)ar- 
ticular  as  you  can. —  Polly  is  in  Edinburgh,  Mrs.  Mac,  Eanny  and  Miss  Grant 
desire  their  best  wishes.  I  am  My  Dear  Jolin,  yours, 

Georgk  Macintosh. 

But  it  may  be  asked,  how  it  came,  that  with  all  his  marked 
ability  for  scientific  investigations,  he  did  so  little  as  a  Dis- 
coverer in  his  favourite  department  ?  The  answer  to  this 
inquiry  is  a  very  simple  one.  Upon  becoming  Professor  of 
Mathematics  and  Natural  Philosophy  as  well  as  of  Chemistry 
and  Natural  History,  including  the  whole  range  of  scientific 
subjects  connected  with  the  department  of  the  Arts,  his  time 
was  so  occupied  with  the  business  of  teaching  day  after  day, 
that  he  had  little  or  no  leisure  for  original  research  ;  and  not 
even  for  a  regular  correspondence  with  his  friends.  Moreover 
his  share  in  the  government  of  the  College,  and  sundry  inci- 
dental duties,  arising  from  the  small  number  of  College  officers, 
made  such  demands  upon  his  time  and  attention  as  to  forbid 
^his  devoting  himself  to  any  continued  series  of  original  exper- 
iments such  as  are  essential  to  the  advancement  of  science. 


36 

Yet  he  kept  himself  fully  posted  with  rei^ard  to  discoveries  in 
all  departments  of  scientific  research  ;  and  when  it  was  at  all 
practicable  he  repeated  the  experiments  of  the  most  distin- 
guished philosophers  of  the  day. 

Althoui^h  he  made  no  further  publication  of  his  views  than 
such  as  resulted  from  the  readin<^  to  his  classes  of  a  course  of 
lectures  accompanied  with  experiments  and  oral  explanations, 
yet  it  is  by  no  means  improbable,  that  he  continued  to  hold  an 
advanced  position  among  the  cultixators  of  Chemical  learning. 

It  is  much  to  be  regretted,  that  so  man\-  men,  admirabl\' 
qualified  to  enlarge  the  boundaries  of  knowledge,  are  com- 
pelled to  devote  their  time  and  strength  almost  exclusi\-eh'  to 
the  instruction  of  }'outh  in  the  mere  elements  of  science,  and 
that  in  order  to  obtain  a  bare  support  for  themselves  and  their 
families,  who,  if  posses.sed  of  means,  and  allowed  to  devote  a 
goodly  portion  of  their  time  to  scientific  researches,  and  fur- 
nished with  suitable  works  and  apparatus,  and  also  the  mate- 
rials requisite  for  experimenting,  would  gladly  and  successfully 
have  given  themselves  to  the  advancement  of  knowledge  as 
well  as  to  its  diffusion. 

Dr.  Cleghorn's  remarks  respecting  Dr.  Perkins'  "  metallic 
tractors,"  given  above,  were  probably  called  forth  b\-  tlie- 
following  pas.sage  in  one  of  Dr.  Maclean's  letters  to  him. 

•'  Vou  have  doubtless  heard  of  Dr.  Perkins'  famous  Metallic  points — thev  cer- 
tainly have  aflorded  relief  in  several  cases  of  sujierhcial  pain  and  intlaniniation. 
But  Dr.  Mitchell  of  New  York  has  found  the  same  benefit  from  the  use  of  other 
hard  jiointed  substances.  1  have  been  told  by  a  jTentleman  from  Maryland  that 
it  is  conmion  in  that  country  lo  rub  the  blade  of  a  knife  »)ver  a  rheumatic  joint : — 
From  the  Philoso])hical  transactions  it  seems  that  much  i^ood  has  resulted  from 
rubbinrr  with  the  hand,  and  every  Scotchman  has  been  relieved   by  scratchin>,r." 

iM-om  this  last  remark  it  appears  that  Dr.  M.  had  not  a 
very  high  estimate  of  the  \alue  of  Dr.  Perkins'  discoverv. 


37 

From  his  correspondence  with  Dr.  Cleghorn  it  appears  that 
before  and  after  leaving  Scotland,  he  made  various  experiments 
with  lime  and  sulphur,  instituting  first  a  series  of  experiments 
for  the  separating  of  all  crude  substances  from  pot  and  pearl 
ashes,  by  means  of  sulphur  combined  with  lime.  His  experi- 
ments, in  the  last  mentioned  case,  were  made  before  he  left 
Scotland  ;  but  in  the  hands  of  the  gentleman  with  whom  his 
papers  on  this  subject  were  left,  they  were  not  repeated  with 
the  hoped  for  success.  After  his  arrival  in  America  he  did  not 
pursue  the  matter,  partly  for  want  of  time,  and  also  for  want 
of  the  requisite  facilities. 

With  respect  to  the  Medicinal  use  of  lime  and  sulphur  in 
solution  ;  or  to  speak  more  exactly,  of  the  SiilpJuirct  of  Lime 
in  solution  he  mentions  to  Dr.  C.  several  cases  of  their  efficacy, 
in  a  variety  of  disorders  ;  and  more  especially  of  their  effecting 
an  entire  cure  of  certain  cutaneous  eruptions  ;  and  these  of  a 
severe  character.  One  instance  was  that  of  his  partner  in  the 
practice  of  Physic  and  Surgery,  who  for  two  years  suffered 
from  a  severe  sore  on  one  of  his  lips,  which  he  was  apprehen- 
sive would  prove  to  be  a  cancer,  but  which  was  effectually 
cured  by  taking  internally,  every  day,  for  three  months,  a  solu- 
tion of  the  Sulphuret  of  Lime  in  water,  and  by  washing  the  sore 
with  a  portion  of  the  same  solution.  Sulphur  alone  is  not 
soluble  in  water,  but  the  sulphuret  of  lime  is  ;  and  he  gives 
this,  as  his  reason  for  his  preference  of  the  sulphuret  to  the 
simple  sulphur  in  all  cases,  in  which  it  is  expedient  to  use 
sulphur  medicinally. 

'  Although  the  copy  of  Dr.  Maclean's  letter,  in  which  these 
things  are  spoken  of  is  without  date,  yet  the  following  extract 
from  this  letter,  in  another  part   of  it,  enables   the   writer  to 


■         38 

determine  the  }'ear  in  wliicli  it  was  w  rittcn  ;  as  in  it  mention 
is  made  of  the  decease  of  his  colleague  Dr.  Minto,  and  of  his 
own  appointment  to  succeed  this  (gentleman,  who  died  in  the 
Autumn  of  1796. 

"Since  I  wrote  to  you  last  I  have  received  an(jthera|)poiiitment.  Dr.  Walter 
Minto  with  whom  I  believe  you  were  ac  luiiinted,  and  who  was  our  Professor  of 
Mathematics  and  Natural  Philosophy,  died  ahor.t  six  monlh>  a^o.  I  was  a^ked 
by  the  'I'rustees  of  the  College  to  teach  the  Natural  Philo>o])hy,  and  at  an  adjourned 
meeting  in  the  Spring  they  ajipointed  me  without  the  smallest  scjlicitation  succes- 
sor to  Dr.  Minto,  althouj^di  there  were  two  candidates;  one  a  prore>sor  in  Mary- 
land ;  and  that  I  informed  them,  that  I  was  not  qualified  to  teach  the  Mathematics. 
My  salary  is  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  a  year,  with  permission  to  emj-Iov  a 
perscn  to  teach  the  Mathematics  until  I  shall  be  able  to  do  it." 

Had  the  state  of  the  Collei^e  funds  admitted  of  the  expense, 
it  would  have  been  better  for  the  College  and  also  for  Dr. 
Maclean  himself  that  he  should  have  continued  to  hold  simph* 
his  appointment  as  Professor  of  Chemistry  and  Natural  Histor\', 
and  that  another  person  should  been  chosen  Professor  of 
Mathematics  and  Natural  Philosophy,  or  as  was  the  case  some 
years  after,  there  should  have  been  established  at  this  time  a 
distinct  Professorship  of  Mathematics  and  Astronom\'.  Such 
an  arrangement  would  have  left  the  Professor  of  Chemistrs' 
free  to  devote  a  considerable  portion  of  his  time  to  original 
research  in  the  domains  of  Chemistr\'  and  of  Physics  : — and  that 
too  at  a  time  when  his  ardor  in  this  direction  was  unabated, 
and  the  strength  of  his  early  manhood  would  have  enabled 
him  to  toil  assiduously  for  the  advancement  of  his  favourite 
study  and  of  his  own  reputation. 

On  the  7th  of  November  1798,  Dr.  Maclean  was  united  in 
marriage  to  Phebe  Bainbridge,  eldest  danghter  of  Absalom 
Bainbridge,  practitioner  of  Medicine,  in  the  Cit\'  of  New  York. 
and  a   sister   of  Commodore   William    Bainbridge,   U.   S.   N. 


39 

Mrs.  Maclean's  mother  was  Mary  Taylor,  only  daughter  of 
John  Taylor,  Ksq.,  of  Middletown,  N.  J.,  a  descendant  of  a 
family  settled  in  England,  at  the  time  of  the  Norman  invasion. 
See  Burke's  Landed  Gentry,  London,  1838. 

In  the  \'ear  1798,  occurred  the  femous  rebellion  of  the 
United  Irishmen,  and  its  defeat  brought  to  Princeton  two 
remarkable  persons  :  one,  Mrs.  Tone,  the  widow  of  Theobald 
Wolfe  Tone  the  leader  of  the  rebellion  ;  and  the  other,  Mr. 
Robert  Adrain,  a  )'oung  Irishman  of  talent,  and  who  had  a 
great  fondness  for  Mathematical  studies,  and  manifested  unusual 
skill  in  the  handling  of  them.  Havang  taken  an  active  part  in 
the  uprising  of  his  countrymen  against  the  established  gov- 
ernment, he  was  compelled  to  leave  Ireland  :  and  this  induced 
him  to  seek  a  refuge  in  the  United  States.  The  yellow  fever 
being  in  New  York  at  the  timj  of  his  arrival  in  that  city,  he 
came  to  Princeton,  and  being  a  good  classical  scholar,  he 
readily  obtained  an  appointment  as  teacher  of  the  Grammar 
school,  then  vacant  ;  and  for  two  \'ears  or  more  he  here 
taught  and  studied,  and  prepared  the  way  for  attaining  the  emi- 
nence he  afterwards  reached  as  one  of  the  foremost  Mathema- 
ticians of  our  land.  From  Princeton  he  removed  first  to  York, 
Pennsylvania,  and  afterwards  to  Reading  in  the  same  State  ; 
from  w^hich  latter  place  he  was  called  to  the  Professorship  of 
Mathematics  and  Natural  Philosophy  in  Queens  (now  Rutgers) 
College,  New  Brunswick,  N.  J.  From  Queens  College,  Dr. 
Adrain  went  to  Columbia  College,  New  York  City,  and  after 
some  years  returned  to  New  Brunswick. 

'  Dr..  Maclean,  who  knew  h'm  well,  and  w^as  on  intimate 
terms  with  him,  being  asked  his  opinion  of  Mr.  Adrain's  fitness 
for  this  position,  said  the  only  objection  he  had  to  recommend- 


40 

ing  Mr.  A.  was  that  he  deemed  it  hardl)'  becoming  in  him  to 
recommend  one  who,  in  the  department  of  Mathematics,  was 
so  superior  to  liimself. 

In  the  summer  of  1795,  the  year  in  which  Dr.  Maclean 
arrived  in  America,  Theobald  Wolfe  Tone  left  Ireland,  with 
his  family,  and  came  to  this  country.  Soon  after  his  arri\'al, 
he  leased  or  purchased  a  small  farm  in  Princeton,  or  its  vicinity. 
He  remained  here  howev^er  only  a  short  time,  the  wa}'  having 
been  opened  for  his  going  to  France,  and  taking  part  in  the 
efforts  on  foot  for  the  liberation  of  Ireland  from  British  rule. 
His  family  accompanied  him  :  but  after  the  death  of  her  hus- 
band, Mrs.  Tone,  with  her  surviving  child,  returned,  and  again 
made  Princeton  her  temporary  home. 

The  tragic  death  of  her  husband,  and  the  defeat  of  his 
enterprise  in  behalf  of  Irish  Independence,  served  to  enlist 
the  kind  feelings  of  Dr.  M.  in  behalf  of  Mrs.  Tone  and  her  son — 
and  hence  there  arose  an  intimacy  between  the  two  families, 
which  continued  during  life. 

The  following  letter  from  Mrs.  Tone  to  Dr.  Maclean  will 
not  prove  uninteresting  to  such  as  ma\'  be  disposed  to  read 
this  Memoir  : 

**  At  Mi>.  Wade's,  162  (Ireeinvich  St.,  New  \'()rk.    • 
My  Dear  Sir  : 

I  have  just  now  l>een  able  to  engage  my  ])a^^^age  on  the  Brig,  Three  Appren- 
tices, Captain  Mariner,  for  Bordeaux.  We  are  to  sail  next  Sunday;  the  acconi- 
ni:)dations  are  excellent.  The  Captain  is  a  good  man  and  a  gentleman,  his  \\ife 
a  nice  little  French  woman,  and  one  of  tlie  owners  of  the  shij)  goes  with  us.  So 
all  that  promises  well.  I  am  just  interrupted  by  your  letter  which  1  received  with 
l)leasure.  I  could  scold  you  for  saying  that  you  could  not  make  the  time  passed 
with  you  agreeable  enough.  I  assure  you  that  I  often  recall  the  placid  and 
amiable  days  I  Sjient  at  Princeton,  and  I  shall  ever  remember  them  with  kindly 
:\.\u]  affectionate  regret.      1  scarcely  think  we  shall    ever   meet  again.      .Since    my 


41 

return  here,  Dr.  McNevin  and  Mr.  Emmet  have  spoken  much  to  me  on  the  sub- 
ject of  William,  (her  only  child).  It  is  their  opinion  that  his  adopting  a  sea-faring 
life  as  a  profession  is  the  only  chance  to  save  him.  They  were  not  aware  what 
a  dreadful  blow  they  gave  me  :  but  it  is  certainly  always  the  best  to  know  the 
truth.  I  purpose  passing  the  winter  in  the  South  of  France.  If  that  does  not 
succeed  in  restoring  his  health,  and  he  is  obliged  to  go  to  sea,  I  feel  that  my 
travels  will  be  as  completely  over  as  if  he  died, — but  enough  of  this  croaking. 

I  have  received  the  medallion;  it  is  elegant  and  grateful  to  my  feelings.  Wil- 
liam is  so  pleased  with  his  sword,  he  takes  it  to  bed  with  him.  Vou  will  see  an 
account  of  it  in  the  i^aper  to  morrow,  with  the  address  to  me  and  my  answer. 
You  would  have  laughed  at  me,  had  you  seen  me  when  the  committee  waited  on 
me.  I  quite  trembled  and  looked  like  a  fool,  and  could  not  say  a  word  ;  and 
under  the  idea  that  my  answer  was  to  appear  I  could  hardly  write  plain  English, 
or  common  sense.  Don't  be  so  cruel  as  your  countrymen,  the  reviewers,  when 
you  read  it.      I  assure  you  I  thought  of  them  \\  hen  I  wrote  it. 

Dr.  Reynold  has  sent  what  he  calls  a  justification  of  himself  to  Emmet  and 
McNevin.  He  accuses  me  of  ha\  ing  become  English,  and  says,  with  her  neza 
connections  she  has  adopted  a  nezu  style.  I  su])pose  he  alludes  to  the  English 
gentleman  I  knew  at  Philadelphia:  but  I  think  I  should  be  wanting  to  myself 
even  to  ask  his  meaning.  Indeed  I  was  ashamed  for  him  when  I  saw  the  account 
he  sent :  but  scandalous  as  it  is,  he  only  brings  it  to  what  he  says  he  got  for  the 
Books.  So  even  by  his  own  account,  I  was  warranted  in  expecting  their  value, 
till  he  told  me  how  he  disposed  of  them.  He  says,  that  I  accuse  him  of  having 
received  and  secreted  large  sums  from  my  brother  .in-law,  Wm.  Tone,  in  the  East 
Indies.  I  wonder  if  his  own  conscience  accuses  him  of  it,  for  his  letter  is  the  first 
I  heard  of  the  accusation.  Indeed  I  heard  of  some  copies  of  a  Book  written  by 
William,  which  arrived  here  after  we  had  sailed  for  France,  a  circumstance  I  had 
forgotten  till  his  letter  brought  it  to  my  mind,  he  slides  over  the  affair  of  the 
journals.  I  hoped  to  have  seen  Mr.  Maclean,  (Mr.  Hugh  Maclean,  then  of  New 
York,)  before  thn.  I  want  to  send  you  sa.na  Irish  History  before  I  go.  Unless 
you  point  out  some  other  way,  I  shall  send  them  enclosed  to  Mr.  Giftbrd,  (the 
Hotel  keeper,  in  Princeton,  at  whose  house  the  stages  were  wont  to  stop,)  by  the 
mail,  and  write  at  the  same  time  by  post. 

My  best  love  to  Mrs.  Maclean  and  the  little  ones. 

Believe  me  most  affectionately  yours, 

M.  Tone. 

P.  S. — I  can  get  a  letter  from  Captain  Walsh  to  Mr.  Bernard's  nephew.  Wil- 
liam sends  his  love  to  you  and  all  the  family.     If  you  are  not  to)  lazy  to  write  to 


42 

inc  a.;;ain,  it  will  give  mc  imicli  pleasure.      Tell  me  truly  what  you  think  of  Wil 
liam  and  the  sea." 

Instead  of  ^oing  to  .sea  as  a  business  for  life,  he  was  ad- 
mitted by  Napoleon  into  the  Militar}'  School  of  France,  and 
entered  the  Army.  But  upon  the  downfall  of  the  first  L^mpire 
he  returned  to  America,  and  received  from  the  United  States 
government  a  commission  of  Lieutenant  in  the  artillery  branch 
of  the  service. 

In  1824  he  prepared  a  work  entitled,  ** A  System  of  In- 
struction for  the  Cavalry  of  the  United  States,"  and  in  1826  he 
published  his  father's  autobiography,  with  some  account  of  his 
own  earlier  years.  In  this  year  he  also  resigned  his  place  in 
the  Army,  and  returned  to  private  life. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Liston  (afterwards  Sir  Robert  and  Lady  Lis- 
ten) of  Scotland,  came  to  the  United  States  earl}-  in  the 
spring  of  1796,  Mr.  Liston  having  received  from  the  English 
Government  the  appointment  of  Envoy  to  this  countr\'.  They 
were  intimate  friends  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  George  Macintosh  of 
Glasgow,  and  particular  acquaintances  of  Dr.  Maclean,  and 
also  of  some  of  his  mother's  family.  Mrs.  Liston  was  a  native 
of  Antigua,  but  had  resided  from  infancy  with  relatives  in 
Glasgow.  In  1799,  the  year  after  Dr.  Maclean's  marriage,  they 
visited  Princeton,  and  this  led  to  a  friendly  correspondence  be- 
tween them  and  Dr.  M.,  on  business  and  matters  of  courtes)-, 
Mr.  Liston  being  desirous  to  secure  his  kind  offices  in  behalf 
of  a  youth  of  Scotch  parentage,  about  to  enter  the  College, 
from  Alexandria,  Va.,  and  at  another  time  in  behalf  of  the  Rev. 
Robert  Balfour,  of  Glasgow,  whose  friends  wished  to  obtain 
for  him  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity.  The  degree  was 
conferred    by    this  College,  at  the    Commencement  of   1802. 


43 

Dr.  Balfour  became  a  minister  of  much  note,  and  an  extended 
notice  of  him  is  given  in  Chambers'  Biographical  Dictionary. 

Dr.  Maclean's  father,  as  mentioned  in  the  beginning  of  this 
Memoir,  was  an  officer  in  the  British  Army  at  the  capture  of 
Quebec,  and  was  entitled  to  a  large  bounty  in  land  for  his 
services,  but  did  not  pursue  his  claim,  and  never  received  the 
grant.  Availing  himself  of  the  opportunity  presented  by  Mr. 
Liston's  sojourn  in  this  country,  he  wrote  to  him  and  informed 
him  of  the  facts  in  the  case.  To  his  letter  he  recei\-ed  the  fol- 
lowing reply  : 

Philadelj  hia,  22nd  of  April,  iSco. 
My  Dear  Sir  : 

It  would  give  me  great  pleasure  to  have  it  in  my  power  to  be  of  any  service 
to  you  in  respect  to  the  property  to  which  you  appear  to  have  a  claim  in  His 
Majesty's  American  (U)minions. — I  will  take  care  to  put  the  (Governor  (jf  Canada 
on  his  guard  against  giving  his  sanction  to  any  act  thit  might  be  calculated  to 
confirm  the  injustice  you  allude  to. — And  if,  as  I  hope,  I  obtain  leave  to  visit  the 
province  in  the  course  of  the  next  summer,  1  will  endeavour  to  obtain  that  in- 
formation with  regard  to  the  lands  set  apart  for  such  officers  as  have  served  in 
America,  as  I  find  it  impossible  to  procure  in  my  present  situation. 

I  beg  you  will  believe  me  to  be,  with  perfect  truth  and  regard,  my  dear  sir, 

Your  most  faithful,  humble  servant, 

ROH.   LiSTON. 

Mr.  Liston's  return  to  Scotland  probably  interfered  with 
his  visiting  Canada,  as  he  had  intended  to  do  when  he  wrote 
to  Dr.  Maclean.  At  any  rate  they  had  no  further  correspond- 
ence on  this  subject,  and  Dr.  Maclean,  it  is  believed,  made  no 
further  effort- to  establish  his  claim. 

\  One  of  Mrs.  Liston's  letters  is  of  the  date  June  30th,  1799, 
arid  the  next,  from  Albany,  of  the  date  August  5th,  of  the  same 
year — is  as  follows  : 

"•I)EAR  Sir  : 

I  received  your  favour  and  feel  myself  much  obliged  by  your  kind  offices  in 
my  request  to  Dr.  Smith.    1  am  anxious  Mr.  Balfour  should  be  put  in  nomination 


44 

in  September.      \'()U    will    oMige  nic    by  sayiiiL^,  (for  nicj  \vlii\t  i^  jjroper   t  >  l)r. 
Smith  upon  this  occasion. 

We  have  finished  our  excursion  to  the  Lakes — George  and  Champhiin.  Mr. 
Liston  has  been  here  two  days  or  three,  only  to  dispatch  the  August  Packet —it 
goes  off  this  morning,  and  in  the  afternoon  we  set  out  for  Niagara.  Betwixt 
\\riting  and  packing  I  have  scarcely  this  moment  to  command  :  but  as  you  men- 
tioned Sejitemljer,  and  it  will  be  tlie  first  or  second  week  of  the  month  before  we 
return,  I  thought  it  proper  to  write  however  short.  1  must  trust  to  your  friendshij), 
certain  that  it  is  in  the  best  hands,  and  we  must  wait  with  patience  the  result. 

Mr.  Liston  and  the  gentlemen  leg  their  best  respects,  and  join  in  kind  re- 
meml;rance  to  Mrs.  Maclern.  Believe  me,  sir,  at  all  times 

^'our  \  ery  sincere  and  affectionate  friend, 

Henrietta  Liston. 

The  <^entlemcii  referred  to  were  two  friends  of  Mr.  and  Mr.s. 
Li.ston,  mo.st  probabl}'  attaches  to  the  Mission.  In  Mr.  Lis- 
ton's  letter  of  the  30th  of  June  they  are  spoken  of  as  Mr. 
Thornton  and   Lord  Henr}'. 

Professor  Silhman,  Senior  of  Yale  Colle<^e,  in  speaking  of 
men  of  note  in  Edinburg,  whose  acquaintance  he  made  during 
his  residence  of  a  few  months  in  that  cit\',  writes  thus  of  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Liston: 

".Among  the  celebrities  of  Edinburg,  Mr.  Liston  (afterwards  Sir  Robert  Lis- 
ton) must  not  be  forgotten.  Probably  he  had  no  more  to  rlo  with  science  than 
the  Earl  of  Moira  ;  for,  unlike  him,  he  had  passed  a  public  life,  not  iii  the  field, 
l)ut  accredited  as  a  minister  to  most  of  the  cabinets  of  Eurojie,  and  to  that  of  the 
United  States. 

He  had  had  therefore  an  op])ortunity  to  study  the  >cicnce  of  government. 
From  Henry  Thornton,  Esq.,  M.  P.,  I  had  brought  a  letter  of  introduction  to  a 
venerable  friend  of  his,  Mr.  R.  S.  Moncrieff;  and  he  was  on  terms  of  intimacy 
with  Mr.  Liston.  Mr.  Moncrieff,  knowing  that  I  bore  a  letter  from  Colonel 
Pickering  to  Mr.  Liston,  proposed  that  we  should  ride  out  together  on  horseback 
to  Mr.  Liston's  residence  at  Milbourne,  five  miles  from  Edinburgh,  in  season  for 
breakfast.  We  were  received  by  Mrs.  Liston  with  great  politeness,  and  then  by 
her  husband,  who  was  called  in  from  the  field,  where  he  svas  directing  the  agri- 
cultural operations  of  spring.     During  tlie  administration  of  ( ieneral  Washington, 


45 

Mr.  Liston  had  been  long  resident  minister  of  Great  Britain  at  the  American 
court,  which  was  then  held  in  Philadelphia.  They  (Mr.  and  Mrs.  Liston)  both 
retained  the  kindest  recollections  of  their  American  residence,  and  Mrs.  Liston 
cherished  a  small  American  garden  devoted  to  our  trees,  shrubs  and  plants,  and 
into  that  garden  she  admitted  nothing  that  was  not  of  trans-atlantic  origin.  I 
looked  with  jieculiar  interest  to  these  natives  of  my  country.  We  found  tliese  in- 
teresting people  living  in  all  the  simplicity  and  retirement  of  rural  life.  Their 
house,  a  neat  stone  cottage,  was  of  one  story  with  a  thatched  roof,  and  had  a  few 
handsome  rooms.  It  was  situated  in  the  midst  of  a  farm  which  Mr.  Linton  culti- 
vated, not  without  personal  toil.  His  person  was  tall  and  dignified,  his  manners 
presented  a  model  of  graceful  simplicity,  and  his  conversation  was  highly  intel- 
ligent, instructive  and  agreeable.  We  took  breakfast  in  a  small  octagonal  apart- 
ment resend:)ling  a  ship's  cal)in,  and  lighted  fiom  above.  Mrs.  Liston  did  the 
honours  of  the  occasion  with  much  dignity  and  affability.  Their  sentiments  on 
the  United  States,  its  affairs,  its  government  and  the  prospect  of  the  pre  eminency 
of  its  institutions  were  highly  favourable.  Mr.  Liston  was  now  in  retirement  and 
appeared  to  be  past  sixty  years  of  age.  A  revolution  of  parties  having  recently 
taken  place,  and  the  party  of  Mr.  Fox  having  come  into  power,  allusion  was 
made  to  that  fact,  and  to  the  probability  that  Mr.  Liston  would  soon  be  called 
again  into  public  life,  when  he  replied  :  'if  they  want  me,  they  know  where  to  find 
me,'  and  1  believe  (adds  Dr.  Silliman)  he  was  soon  after  sent  fm  a  foreign  mis- 
sion."— 

In  a  letter  to  Dr.  Maclean,  of  the  date  of  Augu.st  4th,  1799, 
from  his  cousin  Miss  Mary  Maclean,  of  Glasgow,  mention  is 
made  of  Mrs.  Liston,  as  giving  his  friends  in  Scotland  their  first 
information  respecting  his  marriage,  and  as  saying,  "Mrs. 
Maclean  is  a  sweet  gentle  Girl,  and  resembles  his  mother." 
Miss  Maclean,  the  writer  of  this  letter,  was  a  first  cousin  of  his, 
a  little  older  than  he,  a  woman  of  superior  intellect,  his  at- 
tached friend  and  correspondent,  to  whom  he  was  indebted  for 
•most  of  the  information  he  received  respecting  his  friends  in 
Stotland,  and  whose  kindness  to  Dr.  Maclean's  family  ceased 
only  at  her  death,  which  occurred  in  1849.  To  Mary  B.  Mac- 
lean and  Agnes  Maclean,  daughters  of  Dr.  M.,  she  bequeathed 


46 

the  greater  part  of  her  small  estate,  and  in  case  of  their  de- 
cease to  their  surviving  brothers.  Not  only  so,  but  she  ob- 
tained for  Dr.  M.'s  children,  from  his  maternal  relatives,  two 
or  three  valuable  bequests,  and  aided  Mrs.  Maclean  in  present- 
ing her  claim  for  an  annuity  to  the  Faculty  of  Physicians  and 
Surgeons  of  Glasgow. 

Miss  Maclean  had  a  sistej-  and  three  brothers,  all  of  whom 
died  before  her,  and  unmarried  ;  and  she  appears  to  have  al- 
ways looked  upon  her  cousin  Dr.  M.  as  a  brother,  as  in  the  let- 
ter here  referred  to  she  says  this  \\as  the  case,  and  assigns  it 
as  her  reason  for  urging  him  to  write  to  her  more  frequently 
than  he  had  done.  After  mentioninij  what  Mrs.  Liston  had 
said  respecting  Mrs.  Maclean,  she  adds  : 

"Although  I  have  not  the  smallest  chance  of  ever  beinj;  personally  ac(iuainte<l 
with  her,  which  1  regret  much.  I  shall  ever  feel  myself  warmly  interested  in  her. 
and  in  all  your  concerns,— and  hearing  of  your  Healili  and  happiness  will  at  all 
times  yield  me  inexpressible  pleasure:  do  I  beseech  you  write  me  soon." — 

"Who  do  you  think  was  married  the  (jthcr  day,  but  your  old //vtv/t/ and  flame, 
Charlotte  Grant,  to  a  Mr.  Smith,  a  manufacturer  in  (dasgow.  Nephew  to  Mr. 
Wardlaw.  I  dare  say  you  may  know  liini.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Macintosh  (piite  de- 
lighted with  the  match.  They  both  went  to  ihc  North  to  the  marriage;  I  am  truly 
pleased  she  has  a  home  of  lier  own." 

Miss  Grant  was  a  relative  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Grant  of  La*^- 
gan,  and  the  intimacy  which  sprang  up  between  Mrs.  Grant 
and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Macintosh  was  due  to  the  ver\-  kind  atten- 
tions paid  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  M.  to  Miss  (^laiit.  upon  her  first 
going  to  Glasgow. 

Miss  M.  concludes  her  letter  thus  : 

"He  sure  to  offer  my  best  and  kindest  wishes  to  Mrs.  McLean.  I  hope  she 
will  have  the  goodness  to  entreat  you  to  lay  aside  that  lazy  tit  you  have  taken,  and 
unce  more  write  me.'' 

I  shall  ever  remain  your  affectionate  cousin, 

M.ARV  Mt:LE.-VN. 


47 

At  the  time  of  Dr.  Maclean's  marriage,  in  1798,  the  Col- 
lege had  no  dwelling  for  a  Professor's  family,  but  in  1 800  the 
Trustees  ordered  a  building  to  be  erected  on  the  College 
grounds  for  the  accommodation  of  Dr.  M.  and  his  family,  the 
Dr.  having  engaged  to  pay  a  rent  equal  to  the  interest  of  the 
money  it  should  cost.  Previously  to  the  erection  of  this  build- 
ing, Dr.  and  Mrs.  Maclean  were  kindly  permitted  to  occupy  a 
number  of  rooms  sufficient  for  their  accommodation  at  that 
time,  in  the  dwelling  house  of  their  friend.  Dr.  K.  Stockton  ; 
where  they  remained  until  their  removal  to  the  house  erected 
for  them.  On  the  6th  of  March,  1802,  the  principal  edifice  of 
the  College — the  one  known  as  Nassau  Hall — w^as  totally  de- 
stroyed by  fire,  with  the  exception  of  the  walls,  which  were  of 
stone  and  brick,  the  outer  walls  being  of  stone,  the  inner  ones 
of  brick.  This  occurrence  at  one  time  seemed  to  threaten  the 
destruction  of  the  Professor's  house,  but  happily,  the  wind 
shifting  its  course,  the  house  escaped,  and  proved  to  be  of  use 
not  onlv  in  furnishin<r  a  residence  for  the  Professor  and  his 
small  family,  but  also  for  a  time  a  lecture  or  recitation  room 
for  the  students,  and  lodgings  for  two  or  three  of  them. 

The  burning  of  the  main  edifice,  which  was  intentionally 
set  on  fire,  although  embarrassing  for  a  year  or  more  to  all 
interested  in  the  welfare  of  the  institution,  proved  in  the  end 
to  be  the  occasion  of  its  increase  and  of  a  success  surpassing 
anything  in  its  previous  history.  Not  only  the  special  friends 
of  the  College,  but  friends  of  learning  and  piety  throughout  the 
country,  came  to  the  help  of  the  trustees,  and  by  the  liberal 
contributions  received  from  the  PLastern,  Middle  and  Southern 
States,  they  w^ere  enabled  to  restore  Nassau  Hall  to  more  than 
its  former  state,    and  to  erect  two  additional  buildings,  which 


48 

furnished  for  that  pLTi()d  in  its  history  ample  accommodations 
for  its  hbrary,  its  philosophical  apparatus,  its  lectures  and  re- 
citations, and  for  the  boardin^^  of  the  students. 

With  the  increase  of  means  for  the  better  accommodation 
of  students,  came  also  a  large  increase  in  the  number  of  stud- 
ents;  viz.,  from  lOO  to  200.  Additional  professorships  were 
established.  Instead  of  a  President  and  one  Professor,  with  two 
or  three  Tutors,  as  was  the  case  before  the  burning,  the  P'aculty 
in  1804  consisted  of  the  President,/^//;'  Professors,  and  double 
the  usual  number  of  students.  Both  before  and  after  this  en- 
largement a  teacher  of  French  was  engaged  to  teach  such  stu- 
dents, as  desired  it,  the  French  language. 

This  new  arrangement  relieved  Dr.  Maclean  from  the  task 
of  instructing  the  classes  in  mathematics  and  astronomy,  but 
the  increase  in  the  numbers  called  in  various  ways  for  an  in- 
crease of  the  demands  on  his  time.  As  Senior  Professor  he 
had  often  much  to  do  in  looking  after  the  discipline  of  the 
institution  and  also  its  general  interests.  And,  in  fact,  at  this 
time  and  for  many  years  after,  if  not  now,  the  duties  of  a  Pro- 
fessor, outside  of  the  giving  of  instruction  in  his  own  particular 
department,  were  more  exacting  and  burdensome  than  those 
pertaining  to  the  matter  of  teaching,  and  left  him  but  little 
time  for  private  study  ;  at  least  comparatively  with  what  an 
active  mind  would  desire. 

The  sudden  and  great  prosperity  of  the  College  here  refer- 
red to  was  followed,  in  the  course  of  a  few  years,  by  a  serious 
disturbance,  commonly  called  the  rebellion  of  1807,  which  led 
to  a  suspension  of  the  College  exercises  for  a  short  time,  and 
to  the  expulsion  of  a  number  of  the  students,  which  circum- 
.stances,  together  with    the  feeble  health    of  the  l^resident  and 


49 

the  successive  resignations  of  the  more  recently  appointed  Pro- 
fessors, from  one  cause  and  another,  led  to  an  unfavorable 
change  in  the  condition  of  the  College,  and  ultimately  to  an 
entire  reorganization  of  the  Faculty,  in  the  autumn  of  i(Si2, 
when,  as  before  mentioned.  Dr.  Maclean  resigned  his  chair  at 
Princeton,  and  accepted  the  position  of  Professor  of  Natural 
Philosophy  and  Chemistry  in  William  and  Mary  College,  Vir- 
ginia. 

The  esteem  in  which  Dr.  Maclean  was  held  as  an  instructer 
in  both  these  institutions,  may  be  inferred  from  the  following 
extracts  from  various  notices  of  him  after  his  decease,  and  from 
sundry  letters  addressed  to  him,  upon  his  resigning  the  chairs 
he  occupied  successively  at  Princeton  and  at  Williamsburgh. 

In    President    Fisher's    Life    of  Benjamin  Silliman,   M.D., 

LL.D.,  the  first  Professor  of  Chemistry  in   Yale  College,  the 

following    passage   is  given   from    Professor  Silliman's  Diary, 

vol.  I,  pp.  109,  1 10 : 

"Brief  Residenck  in  Princeton. — At  this  celebrated  seat  of  learning,  an 
eminent  gentleman,  Dr.  John  Maclean,  resided  as  Professor  of  Chemistry,  &c.  I 
early  attained  an  introduction  to  him  by  correspondence,  and  he  favoured  me 
with  a  list  of  books  for  the  promotion  of  my  studies  ;  amon^  them  Chaptal's,  La- 
voisier's and  Fourcroy's  Chemistry,  Scheele's  Essays,  Bergman's  Works,  Kirwan's 
Mineralogy,  &c.  I  also  passed  a  few  days  with  Dr.  Maclean,  in  my  different 
transits  to  and  from  Philadelphia,  and  obtained  from  him  a  general  insight  into 
my  future  occupation  ;  inspected  his  library  and  apparatus,  and  obtained  his  ad- 
vice respecting  many  things.  Dr.  Maclean  was  a  man  of  brilliant  mind,  with  all 
the  acuteness  of  his  native  Scotland  ;  and  a  sparkling  wit  gave  variety  to  his  con- 
versation. I  regard  him  as  my  earliest  master  in  chemistry,  and  Princeton  as  my 
starting  point  in  that  pursuit :  although  I  had  not  an  opportunity  to  attend  any 
"IcQtures  there." 

[  The  reader  will  doubtless  pardon  the  writer  for  inserting,  in  a  note,  the  next 
two  sentences;  "Mrs.  Maclean  was  a  lovely  woman,  and  made  my  visits  at  the 
house  very  pleasant  to  me.     She  was  the  sister  of  Commodore  Bainbridge,  after- 


50 

wards  signalized  by  the  capture  of  the  British  frii^ate  Java,  in  the  war  of 
1812-15.  Mrs.  Maclean  gave  me  an  introduction  to  the  family  of  Commodore 
Bainbridge  in  Philadelphia,  in  which  I  was  an  occasional  visitor."] 

Many  year.s  after  Dr.  Maclean's  death,  Dr.  Silliman  made 
another,  and  his  last,  visit  to  Princeton  ;  and  on  this  occasion 
he  said  to  the  writer,  upon  visiting  the  chemical  laboratory  : 
"It  was  in  this  room  that  I  saw  the  first  experiments  in  chem- 
istry ever  witnessed  by  me." 

In  an  article,  written  for  the  American  Edition  of  Lem- 
priere's  Biographical  Dictionary,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Miller 
says  of  Dr.  Maclean  : 

"As  a  physician,  a  surgeon,  a  natural  philosopher,  a  mathematician,  and, 
above  all,  a  chymist.  Dr.  Maclean  was  very  eminent.  As  a  college  officer  he  was 
uncommonly  popular  and  useful."' 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander,  in  giving  an  account 
of  a  visit  made  by  him  to  Princeton  in  1801,  eleven  years  be- 
fore he  became  a  resident  of  this  place,  has  this  remark  re- 
specting Dr.  M. : 

"Dr.  Maclean  emigrated  to  .\merica  in  1795,  and  became  one  of  the  most 
popular  professtjrs  who  ever  graced  the  College.  He  was  at  home  almost  equally 
in  all  branches  of  science.  Chemistry,  natural  history,  mathematics  and  natural 
philosophy  successively  claimed  his  attention." 

Upon  the  resignation  of  Dr.  Maclean,  the  trustees  of  the 
College  of  New  Jersey  passed  the  following  resolution: 

"Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  this  board  be  given  to  Dr.  John  Maclean,  for 
the  long,  various  and  important  services  which  he  has  rendered  to  this  In>titution 
as  professor  in  the  same. 

"Ordered  that  the  clerk  wait  on  Dr.  Maclean  an<l  give  him  a  cojn-  of  this 
resolution." 

The  Senior  and  Junior  Classes,  which  two  classes  at  that 
time  comprised  the    great  body  of  the  students,  severally  ad- 


51 

dressed  to  Dr.  M.  letters  expressive  of  their  great  respect  and 
esteem  for  him,  and  of  their  sincere  regret  at  his  leaving  the 
institution.  The  Senior  and  Junior  classes  of  each  successive 
year  were  the  only  ones  which  were  instructed  by  Dr. 
Maclean. 

Dr.  Maclean,  upon  leaving  Princeton  for  Williamsburgh, 
deemed  it  inexpedient  to  take  his  family  with  him,  as  at  this 
very  time,  October,  1812,  there  was  a  large  British  fleet  in  the 
contiguous  waters,  from  which  fleet  frequent  hostile  excursions 
were  made  to  various  places  adjacent  to  the  sea  coast.  At 
Williamsburgh  Dr.  Maclean  remained  until  the  beginning  of 
the  ensuing  summer,  or  the  close  of  the  college  year,  when  he 
returned  to  Princeton.  Some  weeks  before  leaving  Williams- 
burgh on  a  visit  to  his  family,  he  had  a  severe  attack  of  bilious 
fever,  from  which,  however,  he  recovered  sufficiently  to  be  able 
to  travel  in  a  stage  coach  as  far  as  Princeton  ;  and  he  and  his 
friends  hoped  that  the  invigorating  air  of  this  place  would 
speedily  restore  him  to  his  usually  firm  and  vigorous  health. 
But  these  hopes  were  destined  to  a  sad  disappointment;  and 
when  the  time  arrived  for  him  to  go  back  to  William.sburgh 
he  was  too  feeble  to  do  so,  and  he  was  compelled  to  send  to 
the  Visitors  of  the  College  his  resignation.  The  fever,  indeed, 
had  been  subdued,  but  it  was  followed  by  jaundice  and  by 
dropsy,  from  the  combined  force  of  which  he  gradually  sank, 
until  the  17th  of  the  ensuing  February,  when  he  departed  this 
life.  At  of  about  the  time  that  he  sent  his  resignation  to  the 
Visitors  of  the  College,  he  wrote  to  his  friend  and  colleague 
there,  Professor  Ferdinand  Stewart  Campbell,  who  sent  him 
^a  long  letter  in  reply,  giving  him  information  respecting  the 
affairs   of  the  College,  and  also  in  regard  to  several  of  his  ac- 


52 

quaintanccs.     The   date  of  Professor  Campbell's  letter  is  Nov. 
1st,   1813,  and  the  first  paragraph  is  as  follows  : 

"My  Dear  Sir  : 

I  would  have  answered  yuur  friendly  letter  immediately  after  its  reception, 
hut  concluded  to  wait,  until  I  could  be  able  to  give  you  some  intelligence  rela- 
tive to  the  arrangements  of  the  College.  In  the  first  place,  however,  I  must  ex- 
press my  unfeigned  regret  that  it  does  not  comjiort  with  your  views  to  return  to 
Virginia:  for  here  you  had  formed  many  ac(iuaintances,  and  ac(|uired  friend>, 
whose  highest  gratification  would  have  been  to  see  you  j)ermanently  settled 
amongst  them." 

Professor  Campbell  was  a  brother  of  the  poet  Thomas 
Campbell,  author  of  the  Pleasures  of  Hope  and  other  well- 
known  works,  if  the  writer's  memor)'  does  not  fail  him,  in  re- 
gard to  what  he  heard  on  this  head,  sixty  }'ears  ago.  lo  in- 
herit a  valuable  estate  in  Scotland,  Professor  Campbell  took 
the   name  of  Stewart,  which  was  previoush-  his  middle  name. 

In  regard  to  Dr.  Maclean's  character,  as  a  gentleman,  a 
scholar  and  a  teacher,  the  testimony  is  uniform,  that  he  held 
an  eminent  rank  among  his  cotemporaries. 

The  last  public  tribute  to  Dr.  Maclean,  as  a  cultixator  and 
teacher  of  chemical  science,  is  in  a  recent  essay  by  the  younger 
Professor  Silliman  of  Yale  College,  in  an  article  entitled 
"  American  Contributions  to  Chemistry,"  and  read  at  a  meeting 
held  at  Northumberland,  Pa.,  on  the  3  ist  of  July,  i  CS74.  to  cele- 
brate the  Priestley  centennial  of  chemistry.  Published  in  the 
y\merican  Chemist,  for  August  and  September,  1874,  page  J^. 

"  Chemistry  prior  to  the  Commencement  of  the  Present  Century. — Of  the  jnib- 
lic  seminaries  of  learning  other  than  medical  institutions,  where  Chemistry  was 
taught  from  a  separate  chair,  and  as  a  distinct  branch  of  the  College  curriculum 
of  instruction  prior  to  1800,  we  find  but  one,  and  tliis  distinction  belongs  to  Na.s- 
sau  Hall,  I'rinceton,  New  Jersey." 


53 

"  On  the  1st  of  October,  1795,  the  day  after  the  annual  commencement  in 
that  year,  the  trustees  of  that  institution  elected  Dr.  John  Maclean  Professor  of 
Chemistry.  He  was  a  yount;  chemist  of  Scotland,  fresh  from  the  instruction  of 
Hope  and  Black  and  the  French  school.  But  it  is  only  just  to  add,  that  Dr. 
Maclean,  on  the  death  of  his  colleague  in  the  chair  of  mathematics  and  natural 
philosophy,  assumed  these  duties  in  addition  to  those  of  chemistry.  Dr.  Maclean 
ever  deserves  honourable  mention  as  one  of  the  earliest  and  most  successful 
teachers  of  our  science  in  this  country.  Professor  Silliman  in  his  reminiscences 
gratefully  recognizes  his  obligations  to  Dr.  Maclean  and  to  Princeton.  He  says 
(vol.  I.,  page  no,  Fisher's  Life)  :  '  I  regard  him  as  my  earliest  master  in  chem- 
istry, and  Princeton  as  my  starting  point  in  that  pursuit.'  Dr.  Maclean,  in  1812, 
accepted  the  chemical  chair  in  William  and  Mary  College,  Virginia.  In  Paris 
Dr.  Maclean  learned  to  admire  the  antiphlogistic  theory,  as  the  '  new  chemistry  ' 
of  Lavoisier  was  then  calletl,  and  which  he  taught  and  defended  at  Princeton. 
In  1795  he  published  '  Two  Lectures  on  Combustion,  Supplementary  to  a  Course 
of  Lectures  on  Chemistry,  Read  at  Nassau  Hall,  Containing  an  Examination  of 
Dr.  Priestley's  Considerations  on  the  Doctrine  of  Phlogiston  and  the  Decomposi- 
tion of  Water.'  These  lectures  display  both  ability  and  learning,  and  form  an 
interesting  chapter  in  the  history  of  phlogistic  discussion." 

"  Dr.  Maclean  contributed  several  articles  to  the  New  York  Medical  Reposi- 
tory, and  his  name  is  associated  with  that  of  Professor  Silliman  in  editing  the 
tirst  American  P2dition  of  Henry's  Chemistry,  in  1808," 

or  rather,  in  a  joint  recommendation  of -the  work,  and  in 
adopting  it  a.s  the  text-book  on  chemistry  for  their  respective 
classes. 

Had  Dr.  Maclean  recovered  his  health  in  the  autumn  of 
1 81 3  he  would  in  all  probability  have  been  invited  to  take 
charge  of  the  Albany  Academy,  in  connection  with  his  friend, 
the  Rev.  Dr.  James  Carnahan,  whose  health  forbade  his  con- 
tinuing: in  the  active  duties  of  the  ministry.  Several  of  its 
leading  friends  were  desirous  to  secure  their  services  for 
this  institution,  then  just  projected  or  established  :  but  the 
, death  of  Dr.  Maclean,  on  the  17th  of  February,  following 
the    removal    of   Dr.    Carnahan    to    Georgetown.    D.  C,  led 


54 

them  to  make  other  arrangements  for  their  new  Academy. 
To  the  hope  or  expectation  that  Dr.  Maclean  would  make 
his  home  in  Alban)',  reference  is  made  in  the  following 
letter  from  the  Rev.  Samuel  Finley  Snowden,  by  whom,  when 
he  was  Pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  church  in  Princeton,  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  Maclean  were  married,  in  the  autumn  of  1798. 

"Accept,  my  dear  Madam,  the  sincerest  and  tenderest  condolence  of  your  af- 
fectionate friend,  Mrs.  Snowden,  together  with  my  own,  in  the  severe  affliction 
with  which  the  Ahiiighty  has  seen  proper,  in  his  wise  and  holy  providence,  to 
visit  you,  in  the  death  of  your  husband,  so  much  esteemed  and  so  greatly  lamented 
by  us  both.  How  delusive  are  the  hopes  of  man  I  While  we  were  flattering  our- 
selves that  we  should  have  both  yourself  and  him  and  your  lovely  family  nearer 
still  to  us,  {for  we  had  heard,  thai  there  7C'as  a  proposal  for  the  Dr.''s  being  settled 
at  Albany,)  we  received  the  very  unexpected  and  painful  intelligence  of  his  re- 
moval from  this  vale  of  sorrow. 

Little  can  mortals  do  for  the  comfort  of  the  bereaved.  It  is  God  only,  who 
can  administer  eftectual  relief.  Confidence  in  his  care,  as  a  reconciled  Father  in 
Christ,  will  support  the  soul,  and  by  drawing  more  closely  the  ties  of  aflection  and 
dependence  convert  afflictions  into  blessings. — I  hope  you  enjoy  that  source  of 
consolation,  which  will  last  when  all  others  fail. 

If  we  can  render  you  any  service,  it  will  aft'ord  the  greatest  pleasure  to  do  it. 
We  should  be  exceedingly  happy  to  hear  particularly  from  you. 

Mrs.  Snowden  joins  in  love  to  you  and  the  children.  Samuel  is  re^iding  at 
Cazenovia.  If  he  were  at  home,  he  would  desire  to  be  jiarticularly  rememliered 
to  Master  John.      Mrs.  Maclean,  I  remain,  my  dear  Madam, 

Your  sinceire  friend, 
Samuel  F.  Snowden. 

New  Hartford,  State  of  New  York,  May  6th,  1 8 14.'' 

In  June,  1799,  Dr.  Maclean  was  chosen  a  corresponding 
member  of  "  The  Academy  of  Medicine  of  Philadelphia,"  of 
which  Society  Dr.  Philip  S.  Physick  was  at  this  time  the  Pre- 
sident, and  Dr.  John  C.  Otto,  the  Secretary. 

And  in  Januar}%  1805,  Dr.  M.  was  chosen  a  member  of  the 
American  Philosophical  Society.     The  letter,  a  highh'  compli- 


55 

mentary  one,  informing  him    of  his  election,  is  signed  by  Dr. 
Thomas  C.  James,  the  Corresponding  Secretary. 

In  December,  1807,  he  was  admitted  to  all  the  rights  and 
privileges  of  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  pursuant  to  the  laws 
of  the  same,  by  the  Circuit  Court  of  New  Jersey,  in  session  at 
New  Brunswick. 

There  are  two  facts,  in  reference  to  Dr.  Maclean,  concern- 
ing which  there  can  be  no  question : 

1st,  As  a  teacher  of  chemistry,  he  had  in  his  day  no  su- 
perior in  this  country  ; 

2nd,  That  as  a  College  officer  no  one  was  ever  held  in 
higher  respect  and  esteem  by  his  pupils. 

The  testimonies  cited  in  this  memoir  are  sufficient  to  es- 
tablish both  these  facts  ;  and  if  it  were  necessary,  additional 
testimony  could  be  adduced  in  support  of  what  is  here  claimed 
for  him. 

It  was  thought  and  said  by  many  that  he  was  equally  at 
home  in  the  various  departments  of  science  ;  but  he  made  no 
such  claim  for  himself;  and  although  his  talents  were  of  an 
order  such  as  would  have  enabled  him  to  excel  in  any  branch 
of  study  to  which  he  might  have  devoted  himself,  yet  to  cer- 
tain parts  of  the  College  course  he  gave  no  further  atten- 
tion than  was  sufficient  to  instruct  his  pupils  thoroughly  in 
them.  And  in  teaching,  his  aim  was  to  make  his  pupils  per- 
fectly familiar  with  what  they  professed  to  study,  rather  than 
to  impart  to  them  a  smattering  of  a  great  variety  of  knowledge, 
which  could  serve  no  other  end  than  to  render  their  studies  of 
thb  least  possible  use  to  themselves  or  others. 
>.•  The  following  anecdote  will  serve  to  show  the  stress  he 
laid  on  perfect  accuracy  both  in  giving  and  receiving  in- 
struction : 


56 

His  classical  teacher  having  left  IVinceton,  soon  after  the 
writer's  entrance  upon  the  study  of  the  Latin  language,  Dr. 
Maclean  directed  his  son  to  prepare  and  to  recite  to  him  a  les- 
son in  Cordery's  Colloquies,  the  book  which  the  writer  was 
attempting  to  read,  when  his  teacher  left.  He  had  scarcely 
beeun     to   recite,  before  his    father    discovered    his  defective 

o 

knowledge  of  the  grammar  of  the  language,  and  at  once  the 
order  was  to  put  aside  "the  Colloquies"  and  to  take  up  the 
grammar,  wnth  this  injunction,  "Preparv.-  for  a  lesson  just  as 
much  as  you  please,  but  get  every  letter  of  it," — which  itself 
was  the  most  instructive  lesson  he  ever  received  from  an)'one, 
with  respect  to  his  studies.  On  one  occasion,  when  his  son 
was  repeating  the  different  prepositions  which  govern  the  ab- 
lative case  of  the  gerund,  Dr.  M.  thought  that  his  son  had 
overlooked  one  of  the  prepositions  in  the  book,  and  several 
different  times  he  sent  him  away  to  prepare  the  lesson  more 
perfectly.  Finally  satisfied  that  he  had  given  all  the  preposi- 
tions mentioned  in  the  grammar,  he  brought  to  his  father  the 
book  itself  and  insisted  that  he  was  right ;  to  which  his  father 
assented,  with  the  remark  that  the  defect  was  in  the  book 
itself. 

In  family  government  he  combined  strict  authority  with 
freedom  of  approach  and  even  playfulness  of  manner,  in  his 
intercourse  with  his  children.  He  often  took  part  in  their 
amusements,  and  encouraged  them  to  engage  in  such  innocent 
sports  as  would  serve  to  promote  strength  and  activity  of  limb. 
On  one  occasion  some  young  robins  having  fallen  from  their 
nest  in  a  large  willow  tree,  he  said  to  his  oldest  son.  then  a  lad 
of  about  9  or  lo  years  of  age  :  "if  you  will  climb  that  tree  and 
put  these  young  robins  back  in  their  nest.  I   will  givT  you  a 


57 

quarter  of  a  dollar."  The  son  did  it,  and  from  it  learned  a  two- 
fold lesson:  one  in  climbing,  and  the  other  in  the  proper  treat- 
ment of  innocent  birds,  both  of  which  he  turned  to  account  in 
after  life  ;  and  to  the  first  of  which  some  of  his  own  pupils  could 
give  ample  testimony. 

Dr.  M.  never  made  a  public  profession  of  his  faith  in  Christ, 
other  than  such  an  one  as  was  involved  in  the  baptism  of 
his  children,  and  in  his  punctual  attendance  upon  the  public 
services  of  the  sanctuary,  and  in  contributing  to  the  support  of 
these  services  ;  but  towards  the  close  of  life  there  was  w^ith 
him  a  growing  conviction  of  the  unspeakable  importance  of  a 
vital  union  with  Christ  as  the  only  Saviour  of  lost  and  guilty 
men,  and  he  cherished  a  hope,  that  through  grace  he  was  pre- 
pared for  his  departure,  which  he  saw  was  surely  and  gradually 
approaching.  Had  he  recovered  his  health,  it  was  his  purpose 
to  establish  family  worship  and  also  to  make  an  open  avowal 
of  his  faith  in  Christ.  The  Rev.  Wm.  C.  Schenck,  Pastor  of  the 
church  the  public  services  of  which  Dr.  M.  and  his  family  were 
wont  to  attend,  had  several  interviews  with  him  during  his  last 
illness,  and  in  his  funeral  discourse  spoke  of  them  as  furnish- 
ing evidence  that  he  had  departed  in  the  hope  of  a  happy  re- 
surrection, through  faith  in  Christ.. 

In  a  letter  of  Nov.  7,  l8l2,to  his  oldest  son,  some  fifteen  months  before  his 
death,  he  thus  writes:  "And  now,  my  dear  John,  having  done  with  business,  let 
me  as  one  most  solicitous  for  your  welfare  entreat  you  to  pray  to  God  every 
morning  and  evening,  read  your  Bible,  attend  church  regularly,  and  pay  respect 
to  your  mother.  If  you  do,  it  will  be  setting  a  good  example  to  your  younger 
•'  brothers,  and  be  a  source  of  happiness  to  yourself." 

His  feeble  health  for  several  months  before  his  decease,  his 

^.  narrow  circumstances,  and  the  inadequate  provision  he  was 

able  to  make,  for  the  keeping    of  his  family  together,  and  the 


58 

education  of  six  children,  four  sons  and  two  daughters,  natur- 
ally gave  him  no  little  anxiety,  notwithstanding  his  hope  that 
in  the  good  providence  of  God  they  would  receive,  under  the 
guardianship  of  their  excellent  mother,  a  training  that  would 
enable  them  to  take  care  of  themsel\-es  and  to  be  of  use  to 
others.  In  this  trying  position,  his  mind  must  have  been 
greatly  relieved  by  the  following  letter  from  his  brother-in-law, 
the  late  Commodore  Wm.  Bainbridge  : 

Navy  \'ar(l,  Charlestown,  (Massachusetts),  7th  of  Fel)ruary,  1814. 
My  Dkar  Sir  : 

It  is  with  dee])  concein,  that  I  learn  by  a  letter  from  your  wife  to  our  sister 
Mary,  that  your  health  is  declining,  instead  of  mending  as  I  had  ardently  hoped. 
I  yet  trust  that  it  will  be  restored  to  you,  having  experienced  myself  most  severe 
bilious  attacks,  and  having  been  left  months  afterwards  in  an  alarming  state  of 
threatening  disease.  I  therefore  consider  myself  from  experience,  although  no 
physician,  a  good  adviser — and  will  offer  you  my  opinion  on  your  case. 

Keep  up  your  spirits,  and  as  soon  as  the  season  becomes  favourable  for  travel- 
ling, direct  your  course  for  this  place,  where  affection  will  receive  you,  and  nurse 
you,  and  united  prayers  be  offered  for  your  perfect  recovery.  The  Hrst  and  great 
consideration  is  the  re-establishment  of  your  health.  After  that  desi(/cratnm  \s 
eflected,  you  need  have  no  apprehensions  for  your  future  prospects.  In  the  mean- 
time, my  dear  friend,  consider  yourself  at  liberty  to  command  pecuniary  resources 
from  me — do  not  only  look  upon  me  as  the  Brother  of  your  wife  and  the  uncle 
of  your  children,  but  as  an  affectionate  and  sincere  friend.  My  family  all  unite 
in  great  affection  and  best  wishes  to  yours,  and  in  fervent  pravicr  for  the  speedy 
recovery  of  your  health.  Yours  affectionately, 

Dr.  John  Maci.kan,  Wm.  Hainhrid(;k. 

Princeton,  Xcw  jersey. 

This  letter  was  penned  ti/i  days  before  the  death  of  Dr. 
Maclean  and  must  ha\'e  been  received  b}'  Dr.  M.  within  a  day 
or  two  after  it  was  written,  but  he  was  too  low  to  make  to  it 
an\'  repl}^  It  assured  him  however,  that  as  long  as  his  brother- 
in-law  and  friend  li\'ed,  and  could   look   after   the   interests   of 


59 

his  family,  they  would  not  suffer  for  want  of  means  to  main- 
tain them,  and  so  it  turned  out.  Upon  receiving  information 
of  Dr.  Maclean's  death,  he  at  once  let  his  sister  know  that 
while  he  must  decline  to  act  as  one  of  the  Executors  of  her 
husband's  small  estate,  he  would  remit  a  debt  due  to  him  by 
Dr.  M.  and  make  her  yearly  a  liberal  allowance,  towards  the 
support  of  herself  and  children  :  and  for  ten  years  he  contin- 
ued to  them  his  most  generous  aid,  until  from  their  own  sav- 
ings and  with  the  assistance  of  their  father's  friends  in  Scot- 
land, provision  was  made  for  the  education  of  them  all  :  and 
for  this  happy  result  they  were  indebted  to  no  one  so  much  as 
to  their  mother,  who,  by  her  great  care  and  prudent  manage- 
ment, was  enabled  to  keep  her  entire  family  together  ;  and  had 
the  pleasure  to  know,  before  her  own  departure  from  this  life, 
that  all  her  children  had  or  would  receive  the  education,  which 
she  and  her  husband  were  both  desirous  they  should  have. 

Dr.  Maclean  died  on  Thursday,  the  17th  of  February,  18 14, 
and  was  buried  on  Saturday,  the  19th,  in  the  Princeton  Ceme- 
tery, his  grave  being  contiguous  to  those  of  the  College  Presi- 
dents and  Professors  who  had  preceded  him  to  the  tomb. 
His  wife  survived  him  fourteen  years.  Her  grave  and  those 
of  their  two  daughters,  Mary  Bainbridge  and  Agnes  Maclean, 
and  of  their  son,  Wm.  Bainbridge  Maclean,  and  of  their  grand- 
son John  Maclean,  son  of  Dr.  G.  M.  Maclean,  are  all  in  the 
same  plot  with  his  own, — w^ith  a  few  other  relatives. 


6o 

The  following  epitaph,  written  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  S.  S.  Smith, 
then  late  President  of  the  Collei^e,  was  inscribed  upon  the 
marble  slab  above  his  grave.  There  are  one  or  two  slight 
errors  in  regard  to  dates. 

Laus  Deo  ()ptim(>  Maximo. 

Intra  hoc  Sepulcliriun 

(lepositae  sunt,  spe  resurrectionis  heatac, 

reliquiae  Mortales 

JOHANNIS  MACLEAN,  M.D. 

viri  admodum  venerandi,  omnil)Us  dotibus  animi  jM-aeccllcntis, 

qui 

Glasguae  Scotorum  natus,  C"al.   Martii,  anno   MDCCLXXI, 

in  Americani  niicjravit  anno  MDCCXCV. 

Physicae  Naturalis  Scientia  penitus  instructus, 

et 

Arte  Chemica  praecipue  florens, 

earuni  artium  in  Academia  Nassovica  Professor  desi<rnatus  est, 

tertio  Cal.  Oct  ejusdeni  anni. 

Professoribus  ac  juventute  in  Collegio 

mire  dilectus,  atque  observalus, 

e  vita  eheu  decessit, 

omnibus  plorandus, 

Idibus  Februarii, 

MDCCCXIV. 


6i 


A    Tt'anslation. 

To  God,  the  Greatest  and  the  Best,  be  Glory. 

Within  this  tomb,  in  hope  of  a  happy  resurrection, 

are  deposited  the  mortal  remains 

of  John  Maclean,  M.D. 

a  man  to  l)e  held  in  great  veneration,  with  all  the 

endowments  of  a  superior  mind, 

who 

K)X\\  at  Glasgow,  Scotland,  on  the  Calends  of  March,  A.  D.  1771 

removed  to  America,  in  the  year  1795. 

Thoroughly  versed  in  the  Science  of  Natural  Philosophy, 

and  especially  excelling  in  the  Art  of  Chemistry, 

he  was  chosen  Professor  of  these  Arts  at  Nassau  Hall, 

on  the  29th  of  September  of  the  same  year. 

Exceedmgly  beloved  and  esteemed,  by  the 

Professors  and  youth  of  the  College, 

he  departed  this  life, 

lamented  by  all, 

on  the  Ides  of  February, 

MDCCCXIV. 


62 

INDEX. 


Dr.  Maclean's  birlh  and  lineage,         .              .              .              .              .  .5 

His  education  and  scholarship,        ......  6 

His  views  respecting  the  study  of  (ireek  and  Latin,                  ,              .  .7 

The  Glasgow  Chemical  Society,     ......  8 

Papers  read  i)cfore  this  Society  by  iJr.  M.,     .              .              .              .  -9 

Attends  Lectures  on  Anatomy,  Theory  and  Practice  of  Phy^ic,  <S:c.,at 

the  University  of  Glasgow,       ......  10 

Repairs  to  Edinburgh,  Drs.  CuUen  and  Black,                          .              .  .11 

Goes  to  London  and  to  Paris,  to  prosecute  his  studies  in  these  cities,  .          12 

Returns  to  Glasgow,       .              .              .              .              .              .              .  .      12 

Made  a  member  of  the  Faculty  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,           .  .          13 
At  Paris,  when  Lavoisier,  Berthollet,  F'ourcroy,  and  other  eminent  culti- 
vators of  Chemical  Science,  were  at  the  height  of  their  reputation,  .      13 
Dr.  Maclean,  a  prohcient  in  the  PVench  language,               .              .  .13 
His  purpose  to  leave  .Scotland  for  this  country  given  up  for  a  time, 

Mrs.  Grant  of  Laggan,  and  Mrs.  George  Macintosh,         .              .  -14 
Dr.  Maclean,  a  republican  in  sentiment,  his  guardian,  Mr.  Macintosh, 

a  staunch  loyalist. — Their  different  views  did  not  influence  in  the 

least  their  friendly  relations,                  .              .              .              .  .15 
The  generous  and  Christian  character  of  Mr.  Macintosh,  extract  from 

Dr.  Ritchie's  discourse  at  Mr.  M.'s  funeral,        .                               .  .16 
Intimate  friendshii)  between   Dr.   Maclean  and  hi>  guardian's  eldest 

son,  Chas.  Macintosh,  Ksq.,     .              .              .              .              .  .          16 

Remarks  respecting  Mr.  C.  M  icintosh  as  a  Chemist  and  a  NLmufacturer.  .      16 

Dr.  John  C.  Millar  and  Mrs.  Millar,  (Mrs.  M.  a  daughter  of  Dr,Cullcn,)  .          17 

Dr.  Maclean  arrives  at  New  York,  in  the  Spring  of  1795,     .              .  .      iS 

He  goes  to  Philadelphia,  with  letters  to  Dr.  Rush  and  others,        .  .          iS 
Settles  at  Princeton,  and  here  he  engages  in  the  practice  of  Physic  and 

Surgery,  in  connection  with  Dr.  P2benezer  Stockton,       .              .  .18 
At  the  request  of  Dr.  S.  .S.  Smith,  President  of  the  C'ollege,  he  gives 

to  the  students  a  short  course  of  Lectures  on  Chemistry,           .  .          K) 

On  the  1st  (;f  October,  1795,  chosen  Prcjfessor  of  Chemistry,                .  19 
Upon  the  decease  of  his  colleague.  Dr.  Walter  Minto,  he  was  chosen 

Professor  of  NLnthematic^  ami  Nat.  Philosophv,            .               .  .20 


63 

Dr.  Smith's  letter,  announciiV:^  to  the  i)ublic   Dr.    Maclean's  appoint- 
ment a;s    Professor   of   Chemistry,  .  .  .  .  .21 

The  high  commendation  of  Dr.   Smith  sustained  by  the  testimonials 

brought  by  Dr.  M.  from  Scotland.     Extracts  from  them,  .  .  22 

Certificate  given  Dr.  M.  by  the  Faculty  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  of 

Glasgow,  in  view  of  his  leaving  for  America,      .  .  .  -24 

A  list  of  subjects  handled  by  Dr.  M.,  in  his  Lectures  on   Chemistry,  .  25 

Electricity  and  Light,  alth  nigh  treated  of  in  tlieir  relations  to  Chemis- 
try, more  fully  handled  as  distinct  branches  of  Natural  Philosophy,  .      27 
In   other  departments  of  Science.  Dr.   M.,  in   the    instruction   of  his 

classes,  relied  chiefly  on  Text  books.     A  list  of  these  Textd^ooks,         .  28 

The  Philosophical  Apparatus  of  the  College,  .  .  .  ■     ^9 

Cabinet  of  Natural  History,  ......  29 

Review  of  Dr.  Priestley's  pxmjihlet  entitletl   "  Considerations   on  the 
doctrine  of  Phlogiston  and  the  Decomposition  of  Water,"  by  Dr. 
M. — also  M.  Adet's  review,  .  .  .  .  .  -29 

Copies  of  these  reviews  sent  to  his  friend  Dr.  Robert  Cleghorn,  Pro- 
fessor in  the  University  of  Glasgow.      Dr.  C.'s  letter  to  Dr.  M.,  .  31 
A  letter  of  a  previous  date  from  Dr.  C,  in  which  he  tenders  his  servi- 
ces to  Dr.  M.  in  any  matters  of  business  or  of  friendship,            .              .     ^3 
A  letter  of  the  date  of  the  6di  of  December  1795,  from  Mr.  Macintosh, 
in  which  mention  is  made  of  Dr.   Cleghorn.     They  both  expect 
Dr.  M,  to  make  valuable  additions  to  the  stock  of  chemical  knowl- 
edge.      Reasons  why  these  expectations  were  not  realized,  &c.,          .  35 
Dr.  Perkins'  famous  metallic  points,                 .              .              .              .              -3^ 

Various  experiments  with  sulphur  and  lime  : — their  medical  use  men- 
tioned in  a  letter  to  Dr.  Cleghorn,        .  .  .  .  -37 

Dr.   Maclean   as   Professor   of  Mathematics  and  Natural  Philosophy,  .     38 

His  time  would  have  been  better  employed,  had  the  circumstances  of 

the  College  admitted  of  the  appointment  of  an  additicjnal  Professor,         .  38 

Dr.  Maclean's  marriage,  .  .  .  .  .  .  -38 

Mention  of  Dr.  Robert  Adrain,  the  distinguished  Mathematician,  .  39 

Mrs.  Tone,  wife  of  Theobald  Wolfe  Tone,  the  leader  of  the  United 

-    Irishmen  in  1795.     A  letter  from  Mrs,  Tone  to  Dr.  M.,  .  .     40 

Correspondence  wdth  Sir  Robert  and  Lady  Liston.     Sir  Robert  was  the 

English  Envoy  to  the  United  States.     Mentioned  by  Dr.  Silliman,  .  42 

Miss  Mary  Maclean,  of  Glasgow,  a  cousin  of  Dr.  M.     A  brief  notice 

of  her  and  of  her  great  kindness  to  Dr.  M.'s  family,        .  .  -45 


64 

The  erection  of  a  h(juse  on  the  College  grounds  for  Dr.  M.,           .  ,         47 

The  burning  of  the  main  College  edifice.     Its  effect  on  the  College,  47 

Increase  in  the  numbers  of  the  students  and  of  the  teachers,            .  48 
This  increase  f(jllo\ved,  in  the  course  of  a  few   years,  by  an   almost 

equally  raj^id  decrease,     .                            .              .              .              .  .48 

In  the  summer  of  1812,  Dr.  M.  resign-;  his  place  in  thi  C>lle^e,  an:l 
accepts  the  position  of  Professor  of  Natural  Philosophy  und  Chem- 
istry, in  Wifliam  and  Mary  College,  Virginia,               .              .  .49 
Extract  from  the  Diary  of  the  elder  Professor  Silliman,  Yale,             .  .     49 
Do.     from  an  article  written  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Miller,     .  .          50 
Do.              **                      "           "          Rev.  Archibald  Alexander,     .  50 
The  action  of  the  Board,  upon  Dr.  M.'s  resignation,            .              .  .50 
Expressions  of  respect  and  esteem  on  the  part  of  the  students,             .  .      50 
L'pon  going  to  Williamsburg,  Dr.  Maclean  left  his  family  at  Princeton,  .          51 
In  the  Spring  of  1813,  Dr.  M.  had  a  severe  bilious  attack,          .              .  ■     S^ 
Returns  to  Princeton.      His  ill  health  continues.      Resigns  his  chair 

in  William  and  Mary  College,              .              .  .51 
Extract    fnnn    Professor    Campbell's    letter    to    him,    upon    learning 
that  Dr.   M.  was  constrained  to   resign,  in    consequence  of  the 

state  of  his  health, — a  short  notice  of  Professor  Campbell,            .  -52 
The  last  jjublic  tribute  to  Dr.  Maclean  as  a  cultivator  and  teacher  of 

Chemical  Science,  by  Professor  B.  Silliman,  Jr.,          .              .  .52 
The    exi)ectation   that    Dr.    M.  would  have  gone  to  Albany  to  reside, 

had  he  recovered  his  health,          .              .              .              .              .  -52 

He  remained  at  Princeton,  and  there  departed  this  life,     .              .  -53 

Letter  from  the  Rev.  Samuel  Finley  Snowden,  to  Mrs.  Ma-clean,  .    .  -54 
Remarks  by  the  writer  on  the  character  of  Dr.  Maclean,  as  a  man,  a 

scholar,  a  teacher,  a  college  officer,  and  as  the  head  of  a  family,  .          55  . 

His  religious  views  and  feelings,         .                           .              .              .  -57 

A  letter  from  his  brother-in-law.  Commodore  Wm.  Bainbridge,     .  ,          58 

Commodore  Bainbridge's  great  generosity  to  his  family,         .              .  -5^ 

Dr.  Maclean's  ileath  and   burial,     .              .              .              .              .  -59 

His  epitajih,  by  ex  President  S.  S.  Smith,  in  T>alin,                   .               .  .60 

An  English  version  of  the  epitaph,               .              .              .              .  .61 


ERRATA. 

For  "  Thi^  letter, "  page  30  read,  The  letter.  For  1795,  p^^ge  30,  read  1796. 


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